Veliaj's arrest, SPAK sheds light on the accusations and the corruption scheme in the Municipality of Tirana

The Special Prosecution Office SPAK has revealed the charges against Mayor Erion Veliaj, who was arrested today by order of this structure.

Through a statement, SPAK announced that Veliaj was arrested on charges such as 'abuse of office', 'active corruption', 'passive corruption', 'failure to declare assets' and 'money laundering'.

The announcement also reveals a corruption scheme in which, according to SPAK, Veliaj and the other defendants were involved, who benefited from funds from the state budget.

SPAK notice:

Date 10.02.2025

The Special Prosecution Office against Corruption and Organized Crime has registered criminal proceedings No. 27 of 2024, which concerns the criminal offenses of “Passive corruption of high-ranking state officials or local elected officials”, “Active corruption of high-ranking state officials or local elected officials”, “Laundering of proceeds of crime or criminal activity”, “Refusal to declare, failure to declare, concealment or false declaration of assets, private interests of elected persons and public servants or of any other person who has a legal obligation to declare”, “False declarations before a judicial police officer” and “Actions that impede the discovery of the truth”, provided for by articles 260, 245, 287/2, 257/a/2, 305/be 301 of the Criminal Code.

After conducting investigative actions, at the request of the Special Prosecution Office on 24.01.2025, the Special Court of First Instance for Corruption and Organized Crime, with decision No. 7 Act/dated 09.02.2025, has decided:

The imposition of the coercive personal security measure "Arrest in prison", provided for by Article 238 of the Criminal Procedure Code, for the citizen under investigation EV, acting Mayor of Tirana, as a suspect for committing the criminal offense of "Passive corruption of high-ranking state officials or local elected officials", committed in collaboration (9 times) and "Laundering of the proceeds of a criminal offense or criminal activity", provided for by Articles 260, 25 and 287/2 of the Criminal Code;

The imposition of the coercive personal security measure "House arrest", provided for by Article 237 of the Criminal Procedure Code, for the citizen under investigation AX, as a suspect for committing the criminal offense of "Passive corruption of high-ranking state officials or local elected officials", committed in collaboration (9 times), "Laundering the proceeds of a criminal offense or criminal activity", "Refusal to declare, failure to declare, concealment or false declaration of assets, private interests of elected persons and public servants or of any other person who has a legal obligation to declare", provided for by Articles 260 and 25, 287/2 and 257/a/2 of the Criminal Code;

The imposition of a coercive personal security measure "Arrest in prison", provided for by Article 238 of the Criminal Procedure Code, for a citizen suspected of committing the criminal offense of "Laundering the proceeds of a criminal offense or criminal activity", committed in collaboration, provided for by Article 287/2 of the Criminal Code, representative of the commercial entity "…….." shpk;

The imposition of a coercive personal security measure "Obligation to report to the judicial police", provided for by Article 234 of the Criminal Procedure Code, for the person under investigation GS, as a suspect for committing the criminal offense of "Active corruption of high-ranking state officials or local elected officials", provided for by Article 245 of the Criminal Code, representative of the commercial entity "AK" shpk;

The imposition of a coercive personal security measure "Obligation to report to the judicial police", provided for by Article 234 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, for the person under investigation MP, as a suspect for committing the criminal offense of "Active corruption of high-ranking state officials or local elected officials", provided for by Article 245 of the Criminal Code, representative of the commercial entity "P." shpk;

The imposition of a coercive personal security measure "Obligation to report to the judicial police", provided for by Article 234 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, for the person under investigation FB, as a suspect for committing the criminal offense of "Active corruption of high-ranking state officials or local elected officials", provided for by Article 245 of the Criminal Code, representative of the commercial entity "K." shpk;

The imposition of a coercive personal security measure "Obligation to report to the judicial police", provided for by Article 234 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, for the person under investigation SK, as a suspect for committing the criminal offense of "Active corruption of high-ranking state officials or local elected officials", provided for by Article 245 of the Criminal Code, representative of the commercial entity "G.-A" shpk;

The imposition of a coercive personal security measure “Obligation to report to the judicial police”, provided for by Article 234 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, for the person under investigation SH. F., as a suspect for committing the criminal offense of “Active corruption of high-ranking state officials or local elected officials”, provided for by Article 245 of the Criminal Code, representative of the commercial entity “F.” shpk.

From the concrete data collected up to this stage of the preliminary investigation, it results in summary that, by the citizens under investigation, specifically EV (acting Mayor of Tirana) as well as the latter's wife, AX, a mechanism was devised, created and put into operation that aimed and made possible, in practice, the receipt of irregular benefits, which originate from public funds administered by the Municipality of Tirana, through its head, with the aim of personally enriching the latter and his family, through camouflaged and illegal actions. In relation to the practices followed by these citizens, based on the evidence administered in the dossier, in at least 10 cases, reasonable suspicion is created for the commission of acts of a corrupt nature by the local elected official, as well as laundering of the proceeds of the criminal offense.

The Mayor of Tirana, citizen EV, through concrete actions that culminated in his signature, has in every case approved the distribution of public funds as well as construction permits to several commercial entities, closely linked to him, whose representatives are mentioned above. These public funds have then ended up in several non-profit organizations, limited liability companies, natural persons controlled de jure and de facto by his wife, citizen AX, as well as individuals close to the latter, creating a suspicious and complicated network of transactions.

The proceeding body has collected evidence, which creates reasonable suspicion about the existence and functioning of a corrupt scheme, from the analysis of which it results in summary that the public funds emanating from the institution of the Municipality of Tirana, with the signature of the head, i) have passed directly to the latter's wife (consequently to the citizen under investigation EV herself) and her family circle, through NGOs and legal entities controlled de jure and de facto by this citizen; ii) have passed through sponsorships, liquidations of fictitious invoices or purchases, made by commercial entities, which in turn have obtained construction permits or public funds from the Municipality of Tirana, to NGOs, limited liability companies and natural persons controlled de jure and de facto by the wife of the Mayor of Tirana; iii) have passed as immovable property of considerable value, specifically a residential building of the “Villa” type located in Qerret, “Marea Resort” Complex, given as an irregular benefit by specific persons mentioned above, who own and represent commercial entities, closely linked by financial interests to the Municipality of Tirana, through the benefit of public funds as well as construction permits, to the family of the Mayor of Tirana; iv) have been spent on purchases of large values ​​by the wife of the Mayor of Tirana, camouflaging these purchases, through other persons. Each transfer of these public funds and the issuance of construction permits was carried out with the approval of the Mayor of Tirana, citizen EV

The facts and evidence collected, although referring to specific episodes identified up to this stage, create reasonable suspicion that in this case we are talking about an organized system of corruption and misuse of public funds, spread over time, according to a scheme put into operation by the mayor of Tirana and the latter's wife. At the center of this corruption scheme and laundering of the proceeds of this crime, it turns out to be the head of the institution, whose signature was decisive for the distribution of public funds, from which he and his close family members have directly benefited in an irregular manner.

The proceeding body has reached the conclusion that, in addition to the immovable properties acquired by the citizens under investigation (under the property regime of the legal community), the latter, only through the companies “PL” shpk, “AL” shpk, “AS” shpk, “NG” shpk, “H.” OJF, “E.” OJF, “B.-A” OJF and “M.” OJF, for which there is sufficient evidence that they are fully controlled by the wife of the Mayor of Tirana, but also “R.” shpk and other companies related to the citizen under investigation EA, have generated income amounting to around 110.000.000 lek.

Then, with their illegal actions, carried out in collaboration and more than once, which consist of integrating these monetary amounts into the banking system, obtained as irregular benefits, but also of concealing or covering up the true nature of the assets, in conditions where these assets are known to be the products of a criminal offense under Article 260 of the substantive law, the citizens under investigation are suspected of having fulfilled the elements provided for in letters a) and b) of Article 287 of the Criminal Code (“Laundering of the products of a criminal offense or criminal activity”).

The criminal intent of the citizens under investigation to integrate into the banking system monetary amounts resulting from irregular profits would have been impossible to achieve without the decisive role of other commercial entities, limited liability companies and non-profit organizations, identified so far in the criminal offense notification register. The non-profit organizations “H.”, “E.”, “M.” and “B.-A,” fully controlled by the citizen under investigation AX, are, up to this stage of the preliminary investigation, suspected of having committed specific illegal actions in terms of laundering the proceeds of crime, through the transfer of assets with the aim of concealing or covering up their illegal origin, knowing that these assets are proceeds of a criminal offense under Article 260 of the Criminal Code. Following the investigations, the Special Prosecution Office has also registered the trade names of these non-profit organizations in the criminal offense notification register.

Likewise, this criminal intent to launder the proceeds of crime, which refers to the case of the transfer of money from companies managed by the citizen under investigation .... and his family members, would have been impossible to achieve without the latter's cooperation in carrying out the illegal actions, which culminated in payments made to commercial companies as well as natural persons controlled de jure and de facto by citizen AX.

In addition to what has been described above, the Special Prosecution Office against Corruption and Organized Crime has provided sufficient evidence to conclude that citizen AX, herself or through other persons close to her, for a period of about 4 years, has made online purchases consisting of clothing, jewelry, etc., in the amount of 86,721,175 lek. These expenses do not appear to have been declared in any of the Periodic Declarations of the head of the Municipality of Tirana or persons related to her.

Likewise, this citizen has in no case fulfilled the obligations arising from law no. 9049 dated 10.04.2023, regarding the declaration of her participation in the board of a non-profit organization, which is proven to have generated significant income, but is also the owner (organization) of a commercial entity with a profitable nature (shpk). The concealment of these facts by the citizen under investigation AX has made it impossible for law enforcement agencies to have a complete and clear picture regarding, not only the participation of this citizen in the boards of organizations, which in turn own shpk, but what is more important, has made it impossible to "establish" and "trace" a considerable amount of money, which has circulated through these entities actually controlled by the citizen under investigation. Precisely, the complete lack of this transparency has subsequently made possible the functioning of such an organized scheme of movement of monetary amounts, from and through these NGOs and LLCs.

With regard to the citizens under investigation, representatives of the commercial entities cited above, the proceeding body has collected evidence which leads to the conclusion that there is reasonable suspicion that they, through active illegal actions, have consumed elements of the criminal offense "Active corruption of high-ranking state officials or local elected officials", provided for by Article 245 of the Criminal Code.

These citizens are suspected of having provided irregular benefits to the local elected official and his wife, directly or through NGOs, limited liability companies and natural persons controlled by the latter, which consist of real estate (a "villa" type residential building), sponsorships, invoice settlements for fictitious legal consultancy services, fictitious purchases of items, fictitious financing of artistic festivals, travel payments and hotel stays, etc. All commercial entities that the citizens under investigation GS, FB, SK, SH. F. and MP represent, during the time corresponding to the period of providing irregular benefits, but not only, have benefited from the Municipality of Tirana, with the signature of its head, considerable public funds as well as building permits.

In relation to these assets, at the request of the Special Prosecution Office, the Special Court of First Instance for Corruption and Organized Crime has decided, by decision no. 84 Act dated 10.02.2025, to impose the asset insurance measure "preventive sequestration" in relation to the immovable property:

Property number 1/647, Vol. 29, Page 103, ZK. 3101, according to the certificate of ownership no. 1456523, located in the Stimulated Zone “Ardian Çarçani”, Qerret, type “plot”, plot area of ​​the building 494 m2, unit base area 82 m2, legalization permit no. 705199, date 31.01.2020, registered with the Albanian Land Registry in the name of “Agi Kons” shpk.

Likewise, the Special Court of First Instance for Corruption and Organized Crime, at the request of the Special Prosecution Office, with decision no. 98 Act /dated 10.02.2025, has decided to impose a property insurance measure, in relation to the bank accounts held at "Intesa Sanpaolo Bank" and "Banka Kombëtare Tregtare", in the name of citizen AX and companies related to her, in the total amount of 869,149.78 Euros.

On the other hand, during the search carried out at the offices of "PL" shpk, managed by citizen AX, who is also the sole owner, an amount of cash of 95,350 Euros (most of them in 500 Euro denominations), 14,900 USD and 665,000 Lekë were found in a safe and seized as material evidence.

In addition to what has been mentioned above, the Special Prosecution Office is conducting preliminary investigations against the deputy of the Albanian Parliament, citizen KB. The latter's name has been registered in the relevant register of notifications as a person suspected of committing the criminal offense of "Acts that impede the discovery of the truth", provided for by Article 301 of the Criminal Code. Up to this stage, it is established that there is concrete data that leads to reasonable suspicion that the person under investigation KB has committed active illegal actions that have interfered with the investigation of the proceeding body in relation to criminal proceeding no. 27 of 2024.

The Special Prosecution Office Against Corruption and Organized Crime thanks the State Police for their cooperation in the execution phase of security measures.