The investigative show Vetting, News24
On December 16, 2024, the current Director of the Tirana Regional Tax Directorate, Erilinda Lala, would donate her shares within the company “2D Construction 2025” to former Gea Construction partner Marsida Dedej with the approval of her husband Taulant Godroli. This action would be the node of a story with a resort with a construction permit in violation of the law by the National Council of Territory, a node which would expose us that Tax Director Lala and her husband Godroli could once again be behind the company.
"Vetting"'s research shows that the director of Tirana Taxes, Erilinda Lala, has hidden her assets in her asset declaration to the High Inspectorate for Declaration and Control of Assets and Conflict of Interest, and the concealment of this asset may have occurred to hide previous connections with the company that obtained the construction permit for the resort in Qerret i Kavajës.
This project, worth around 10 million euros, highlights a chain of legal violations that begin with the KKT and are followed by the Municipality of Kavaja, continuing with a large number of public institutions.
Just 200 meters away from the Qerret coast, plans for the realization on paper by the Territorial Development Agency and the Municipality of Kavaja to carry out investments together with the private sector for the construction of a resort would begin.
This is where all the problems would begin because the project with its construction intensity conflicts with the Kavajë Municipality's General Local Plan Review Document.
This document determines how the area where construction can take place will be developed, how many floors are allowed, what area is for housing, what is for tourism, for roads or public spaces.
This case in itself is a model of how large projects with a drop of a pencil receive approval, violating local government law, only respecting the request and urgency to concrete the coast.
On June 8, 2023, the company “2D CONSTRUCTION 2025”, formerly Gea Construction, would come to life in the Usluga complex building. In fact, the name change may not have been made for commercial reasons, but perhaps to lose track of the history behind it.
The complex is linked to the addresses of the Alko Impex companies, but also to the concessionaire company that won the contract for cleaning the Kamëz Municipality "ECO-CLEANING", which is owned by "Alko Impex General Construction" with administrator Arbër Abazi and "2T" sh.pk owned by Artan Sako and administrator Erilinda Lala's husband, Taulant Godroli.
The company would be co-founded by the Director of the Tirana Regional Tax Directorate Erilinda Lala together with Marsida Dedej, who each owned 50% of the company's shares. According to public information, in 2023 Lala was employed as a lawyer at the State Attorney's Office and at that time the company could not bring complications with positions in the public administration. One of the most important details of the company is the fact that in early 2024, "2D CONSTRUCTION 2025" former Gea Construction would be provided with a license for the implementation of construction works by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy, even though the company had just been established and did not have high-value capital.
In early 2024, Erilinda Lala would be employed at the National Agency for Natural Resources, headed by the current Minister of Finance Petrit Malaj. With the move of Petrit Malaj as Minister of Finance, Lala would also move as an advisor to the Ministry of Finance in September 2024, from where she would also make the first initial declaration of assets to the High Inspectorate for Declaration and Control of Assets and Conflict of Interest.
According to lawyer Margarita Kola, the HIDACCI has been frequently criticized and there have been debates about the role of this institution.
"For me, the ILDKPI is an institution that I regret to say, but it eats Albanian taxpayers' money and I don't know how many cases the ILDKPI has sent to the prosecution or referred to other relevant institutions," lawyer Kola told "Vetting".
Erilinda Lala's initial declaration would expose the properties and assets, among which was the company "2D Construction 2025", with the previous name of Gea Construction. The documents obtained by "Vetting" evidence that the company has had no income and the data published in the HIDAKKI raises questions about the role of the Inspectorate. The latter has made available to "Vetting", forms that show that the latter has had income, but does not indicate the name or the nephew of the business. The forms even include the nephew as a natural person, where during the time Lala was in the state attorney's office, he also had a private business.
It should be noted that in the HIDAKCI form modules, when an official makes a declaration of income, in the "NAME" section, he also adds where this income came from, such as salary from the place where he worked or the name of the business in which he had shares.
The biggest problem does not come only from the HIDAKKI, but also from the declarations made by Erilinda Lala. In the initial declaration to this institution, Lala stated that within a few months from the business, which business is not indicated in the form, she has secured 2.77 million lek and 12 thousand euros or a total of about 40 thousand euros within the period July-September 2023. So, a very profitable business. To verify this income, we cross-referenced the data with the company in which she had shares throughout 2023.
According to the declaration in 2023, the company "2D Construction 2025" has declared only 82 thousand lek in expenses, also coming out with a loss. In 2024, the situation changes only in the level of expenses, but not in income as the company again declares zero income, while personnel expenses increase to about 1.17 million lek per year, or approximately 97 thousand lek per month, a figure that practically translates into a single declared employee.
In total, for 2024, the company results in a loss of around 1.18 million lek, creating the profile of a very small company, with no real construction activity and minimal staff, despite the fact that in the same period it turns out to be equipped with a license for construction works.
So, this company is eliminated, but the company as a natural person that Lala founded in 2022 for legal and advocacy services and was suspended in 2024 does not have that much income either. In this case, from this company he only secured 5 thousand euros in 2023. It is not known where this money was secured, but the HIDAKKI continues to block public data and has not taken any administrative measures against the subject. This is because according to the law on asset declaration, when the subject declares income from a business, he must present the name and surname of the business.
"Vetting" contacted the HIDAKKI, headed by Evgjeni Bashari, to get a comment on the reasons why the specific data was not provided according to the law and whose responsibility it was in this case, the institution or the entity that made the declaration.
Until the publication of this material, the HIDAACCI did not provide any comment on the specific case.
