Ilir Beqaj
The former Minister of Health and the head of the SASPAC Agency, Ilir Beqaj, was arrested by order of SPAK regarding the abuse of EU funds during the time when he was leading SASPAC, while he was being investigated regarding the 100 million euro sterilization concession affair.
Yesterday, the former Minister of Health, unlike other times, arrived at the Special Court in handcuffs, under the measure of prison arrest.
Ilir Beqaj, who had been appearing at the SPAK twice a week for months, had turned the court of the Special Prosecutor’s Office into a place where he gave statements, where he often complained that the SPAK prosecutors did not treat him well because they did not give him the file without money .
But already, handcuffed, he arrived yesterday to hear the security measure from the judge together with his associates, but it was the legal defenders who were able to postpone this hearing for 24 hours.
The defenders have asked for time to become familiar with the data of the investigative file related to the abuse of European Union funds. Beqaj will now be investigated in prison for this file, which SPAK had left on the back burner, since the investigation was specifically focused on the sterilization concession.
Requirements of SPAK
As it is known, it took only two weeks for the Special Court to make the decision to assign security measures in relation to the “SASPAC” file. It was the decision of judge Rudina Palloi, where it is reported that the Special Prosecutor’s Office sent the request to GJKKO on June 21, 2024, while the decision was given on July 3, 2024. The prosecutor of the case is Elida Kackini, who addressed this to imposed a total of 8 personal insurance measures, but only 7 were accepted by the judge, rejecting the request for the assignment of the measure for the citizen Marinela Jazoj.
Prosecutor Kackini had asked for “prison arrest” for Ilir Beqaj, Ermal Kurtulaj, Alfred Nikolla, Gazmend Haxhiu and Elton Marini, while judge Palloj accepted only for the first 3 and ordered “house arrest” for Haxhiu and Marini. SPAK had requested “house arrest” for Bledar Leka, Marinela Jazoj and Jona Zijaj. The only one who has four accusations is former minister Ilir Beqja, against whom SPAK has brought accusations of passive corruption, non-declaration and concealment of wealth, fraud and inequality in tenders.
While the other defendants are accused of active and passive corruption as well as fraud. But the preliminary investigation judge Rudina Palloi partially accepted SPAK’s request and set only 3 “prison arrest” measures, left 2 others as “house arrest” and two as a more lenient measure “compulsion to appear”.
The investigators
For the citizen Marinela Jazoj, whom SPAK says is suspected of having committed the crime of “active corruption of high public officials” provided for by Article 245 of the Criminal Code, the GJKKO decided not to accept the request of the prosecutor to assign measures against her. According to the file, the latter is the executive director of the association of Foreign Investors “FIAA” and according to SPAK that on two occasions this association has purchased services from the restaurant “Gzona” for the organization of events.
In at least one case, a payment was made by the “FIAA” association, with director Marinela Jazoj, to the citizen under investigation MT, who exercised her duties at SASPAC, as a financial officer in the projects monitored by SASPAC, and at the same time it turns out that she carried out actions for drafting of documents for the effect of completing the tender documentation, much later than the procedures should have been actually carried out.
This Friday, Ilir Beqaj and the 5 people under security measure appeared before the court for the assessment of the security measure, but the session was postponed until today at 12:30 p.m. after their lawyers asked for time to familiarize themselves with the investigative dossier. Meanwhile, the “house arrest” measure against Gazmend Haxhiaja has not been executed, as he is abroad
The former Minister of Health and the head of the SASPAC Agency, Ilir Beqaj, was arrested by order of SPAK regarding the abuse of EU funds during the time when he was leading SASPAC, while he was being investigated regarding the 100 million euro sterilization concession affair. Ilir Beqaj is already one of the many ministers of the “Rama” governments, who will have to face justice. And to prove that the charges leveled against him do not stand. While he was expected to be arrested for the 100 million euro sterilization concession affair, in fact Beqaj, known for his expression ‘success in life’, was arrested on Wednesday morning, July 4, for another suspected corruption affair.
That of the abuse of European Union funds, during the time when he headed SASPAC (the State Agency for Strategic Programming and Aid Coordination. One of the most surprising cases of how a minister, who while being investigated for another corruption affair against during the investigation against him by SPAK, if the suspicion of the Special Prosecutor’s Office is true, he is involved in another corruption scandal suspected of being part of a scheme where EU money in aid of small businesses was wasted by hiding it in private businesses, mainly in the culinary field, or by creating fictitious invoices for unconsumed lunches and dinners in these restaurants, where foreign delegations were often invited, among them the European Union in Tirana.
In the analysis of the evidence collected up to this stage of the investigation, it has been found that the citizen Ilir Beqaj in the capacity of the general director of SASPAC acting as an orderer in cooperation with the person under investigation Ermal Kurtula appointed by the person under investigation Ilir Beqaj in on May 26, 2022, as coordinator of the ‘Facility Point’ office for the EUSAIR project, in SASPAC, during the years 2022-2023, they are suspected of having carried out fictitious procurement procedures. But what are these fictitious procedures that have been discovered by SPAK, and how was corruption hidden through these tricks, where Beqaj’s cover is said to have been served by his man Ermal Kurtula, whom he took with him to every department he went to. Is it so simple to rob taxpayers’ money through these procedures, even European ones as in the present case. And why did Beqaj and his family feel so confident in the development of this affair, which will not be revealed?
At least eight services procured within the events: ‘On the organization of the FESTA Conference (The Future of Sustainable Environmental Tourism in Albania’), as well as the ‘Energy Conference’, organized in 2023 have not been subjected to a regular procurement procedure , but the winner was agreed and determined long before the procurement procedure was carried out, which was carried out in a fictitious manner afterwards, for the purpose of documentation and payment. In its investigation SPAK and the National Bureau of Investigation were able to discover that of these fictitious procedures that then ended in the devouring or alienation of EU funds, was Ilir Beqaj, at that time in charge of the SASPAC office, which dealt precisely with the management of these funds.
These tenders were developed through a competitive negotiation procedure or simple procurement, which were ordered to be carried out by the person under investigation Ilir Beqaj in the capacity of General Director, who has signed since agreeing to perform the specified service, to the invitations that were sent to the subjects to submit offers according to the type of procurement, to the order for the establishment of the commission to carry out the evaluation of the offers, to the letter that was sent to the winner after the evaluation until the conclusion of the contract, these documents were drawn up, completed and signed some time later, from the conclusion and implementation of the contract.
