SPAK issues 19 arrest warrants for Tirana's incinerator, the list includes high-ranking officials, politicians, media leaders and their families, the details of the big operation are disclosed

The Special Court Against Corruption and Organized Crime has signed 19 security measures. Sources of the "SOT" newspaper indicate that a major operation was organized in the late hours of yesterday evening by SPAK within the framework of the investigations for the Tirana incinerator. It is known that 19 security measures have been issued, namely house arrest, but also prison arrest, which includes politicians and other important media people, as well as their family members. So there are measures for some journalists and partners of the incinerator company, Mirel Mërtir and Klodian Zoto, as well as for other public figures. The newspaper reported a few days ago that BKH has also checked their houses. It was the prosecutor Dritan Prençi, who gave these measures, as he is the one who is sewing the incinerators file. The new justice is not sparing anyone. There are facts and documents that some media owners and their families have been financed by incinerators. This was confirmed by the US Department of State in one of their reports some time ago. "Salary leaks in December 2021 and January showed that many prominent journalists and media outlets received direct payments from companies contracted to build the incinerators," the report said.

High officials in anxiety

A few weeks ago, Prençi requested the postponement of the investigations for this file for 3 months. The request was accepted by GJKKO. During this time, a number of senior officials were questioned, such as Erion Veliaj, Belinda Balluku and Engjëll Agaçi, as well as the mayor of Durrës. The incinerator of Tirana is one of the biggest corrupt affairs, as it has swallowed hundreds of millions of euros from Albanian taxpayers, but in reality it does not exist. It is an affair that holds within it another affair like that of the lands, which has cost the citizens 60 million euros. This file will not be closed without the interrogation of Prime Minister Rama. From the documents that have already been made public about the Tirana incinerator procedures, there is a moment when the prime minister is directly involved with his signature. Rama signed the decision no. 855 of the Council of Ministers, dated December 7, 2016. With this decision, he made a scandalous blunder, when he gave a bonus to the company of Klodian Zoto and Mirel Mërtir who had made an unsolicited offer for the incinerator of Tirana. Only that their company, when they received the bonus with Rama's signature, did not exist yet. This scandalous decision will not save the prime minister, who has said that he will be responsible for every company. In the verification of the SPAK, there are also the actions of some institutions that have dealt with the contract procedures, such as the Ministry of Finance that has given its agreement to this project for which the report of the Supreme State Control has found problems. But SPAK has also put the actions of the Ministry of Environment and the Municipality of Tirana under investigation.

seizure

An important step towards the investigations took place in August 2023, where SPAK announced that GJKKO accepted its request for the seizure of the company "Integrated Energy BV SPV", which controls the Tirana incinerator. According to the prosecution, the two entrepreneurs Klodian Zoto and Mirel Mërtiri, involved in the construction of two other similar waste treatment plants in Elbasan and Fier, turn out to be the "de facto" owners of this company. They are accused that through false invoices, the two entrepreneurs, already wanted, are suspected to have benefited from nearly 4 million euros. From the investigations, it has emerged that Zoto and Mërtiri have used other persons and companies to hide their tracks, like the real owners of the concessionaire company. The prosecution explained that "the fact that the two entrepreneurs are the people who guided and took the decisions regarding the company "Integrated Energy BV SPV" sh.pk or the parent company in the Netherlands has been evidenced.