In the wiretaps published by former Deputy Prime Minister Arben Ahmetaj, the key words used during businessman Ron Yeffet's conversations about what he calls "dirty work" are Timak and KAYO.
If we heard about KAYO when it was created as a state-owned company and was heavily promoted by Edi Rama and his government, or when its director Ardi Veliu led the operation to evict journalists from the premises of the former Autotraktor factory, the name of TIMAK came up later. It was mentioned as a business partner of the state-owned company KAYO, with 80% of the shares.
TIMAK is an Albanian company founded in 2016 in Tirana by Arjeta Puca. It states that it deals with the production and integration of superstructures for special vehicles, mainly for emergencies, defense, energy and public services. The company says that it has products delivered to over 20 countries. Timak is a company that is very strongly promoted by the government. Its owner, Arjeta Puca, has been invited to Prime Minister Edi Rama's podcast, while the company's premises in Kashar have been visited several times by government ministers.
On June 17, 2025, a strange business transaction occurred. Timak sold 49% of its shares to businessman Ron Yeffet and together they created the company Timak Defence.
Edi Rama and Arjeta Puca
However, Ms. Puca decided to sell 49 percent of the shares of her flagship company, so much trumpeted by the government, for a price of only 490 euros. The buyer was Ron Yeffet, an Israeli with Albanian citizenship and secretly very close to Edi Rama.
Businessman Ron Yeffet and Prime Minister Edi Rama
Sale of 49 percent of Timak shares for 490 euros
What prompted Ms. Puca to sell her business so cheaply?
Everything would become clear only two months later. The sale was a targeted shooting, the shots of which were heard in Ardi Veliu's office.
Army vehicle monopoly
At the height of the summer season, while most Albanians were on vacation, precisely on August 4, the state-owned military company Kayo and Timak established a joint company. The company is called Timak Defence and is owned 80 percent by Timak and 20 percent by the state-owned company Kayo.
The establishment of Timak Defence
The company's object is the production or adaptation of special motor vehicles with an open architecture that allows the installation of weapon systems and any other system required by the armed forces or other security structures, for use by the Armed Forces of the Republic of Albania, security and civil emergency structures and other domestic or international clients.
In short, this is the company that will have the monopoly of supplying the army, police, guard, civil emergencies, etc. with vehicles. The company's place of business will be in the former vehicle spare parts factory, in Shkoza, in the building where the television station was located. News24.
Five days after Ardi Veliu and Timak representatives formed the joint company, the government deployed police and military forces, cracking down on journalists. News24 from the building.
The state's monopoly on supplying vehicles is a very big business, tens of millions of euros a year. But it still remains unclear what the added value the company creates. Given that Albania cannot produce vehicles, the chances are that this will be a trade with little added value, with the new company Timak Defence importing vehicles from abroad and adapting them locally by selling them to the government.
