CEZ-DIA BKH lands in Meta's office

BKH has today carried out checks in the office of the head of the Freedom Party, Ilir Meta.
Agents of the National Bureau of Investigation, by order of the Special Prosecutor's Office, have today carried out checks in the office of the head of the Freedom Party, Ilir Meta, as part of the investigation into the CEZ-DIA affair.

On November 8, the chairman of PL was interrogated for over 2 hours by SPAK prosecutors for the CEZ-DIA affair, which has caused a damage of over 414 million euros to the state budget.

BKT raids the office of Ilir Metë at the headquarters of PL
The investigations for CEZ-DIA brought Ilir Metë back to the doors of SPAK, an affair that has caused damage to the state budget of over 414 million euros. For over two hours, the prosecutors interrogated the former president and the Leader of the Freedom Party, while at the exit of SPAK, he attacked the whistleblower of this affair, Romeo Kara. He described the investigations as just a soap opera, telling the media that the case was tried twice, but was reopened again by a false accuser (Romeo Kara).

"The telenovela CEZ-DIA. It is a soap opera that has been tried twice and was reopened in December 2019 by a false accuser who was convicted twice by the court for defamation and once by the court for domestic violence. Romeo Kara, employee of OSHEE, is used by the regime for defamation. In the first process he did not mention my name, then for his own reasons he mentioned me", said Meta. 

Meta said that there is no act or decision on his part as the Minister of Economy at that time, which implicates him in this affair.

"There is no act, no document, no document, no order, no initiative for laws or bylaws and everything else from Ilir Meta from the post of Deputy Prime Minister or Minister of Economy in the interest of anyone, including DIA and CEZ- in" said Meta.

Meta added that this file is being used politically by Edi Rama to divert attention from government scandals.

The CEZ/DIA affair

The scandal began in 2009, when OSSH sold 75% of the shares to CEZ-DIA, during the government of Sali Berisha, while in 2013, when the socialists took power, the abusive contract was terminated. The cancellation of this agreement, which caused the budget a damage of over 414 million euros, was done with the argument that CEZ had not made any procurement to import electricity in the fall of 2012, and in these conditions all the demand for electricity was covered by the reserve of the Drini cascade.

For this affair, only Ismailaj was sentenced, who has served the sentence, for "fraud with serious consequences" and "money laundering", where by forging documents he managed to appropriate from the CEZ company, about 5 million euros for a service which he had not done it. This hot file for the Berisha-Meta duo has been returned to SPAK. The CEZ-DIA affair for the false collection of debts with unpaid invoices from subscribers began to be implemented after the finalization of the mega affair of the sale of OSSH to CEZ by the Berisha government. Nuel Kalaj was the realtor between CEZ and the Berisha government for the privatization of 75% of OSSH shares from the Czechs. The negotiations involved the son of the former prime minister, Shkëlzen Berisha.

Meta's involvement in the CEZ-DIA affair

Jozef Hejsek, the former chief executive of CEZ, testified that Ilir Meta recommended Kastriot Ismailaj with the DIA company as his "trusted man" for the collection of old debts on behalf of CEZ. Dritan Prifti, one of Ilir Meta's closest people, has confessed that Meta had traveled to the Czech Republic to negotiate the contract for Kastriot Ismailaj, whom he considered a person with a file. Investigators can confirm Meta's travels to the Czech Republic, but also the issues discussed. Meanwhile, only in one case, 1 day before the elections of June 28, 2019, Meta asked Kastriot Ismailaj for 200 thousand (it is believed to be euros) urgently. Kastriot Ismailaj's wife, Vojsava, has confessed the strong ties between Ilir Meta and her husband. She told about the family visits and the text messages that Meta sent to Kastriot Ismailaj asking for money.

In September 2015, Sali Berisha declared in the Parliament that Ilir Meta had no chance to negotiate the CEZ-DIA contract in Prague. In the case of Kastriot Ismailaj's sentence of 11 years in prison, a sentence confirmed by all levels of the courts, the prosecution has established that the purpose of Kastriot Ismailaj was not to collect the debt on behalf of CEZ, nor to perform any real work, but the theft of CEZ's money, of course in cooperation with CEZ, since CEZ lost nothing but the pockets of Albanians. Ismailaj submitted fictitious invoices, received money from CEZ, and then CEZ was favored by the Berisha-Meta government. After Ilir Meta joined the SP, in 2015, Sali Berisha turned Meta's involvement in the CEZ-DIA case into a cause, demanded his resignation and investigation.