Ermali and Nikolla “copied” the invoices to rob EU money; how Beqajt’s restaurant appeared on the “scene” at the Castle of Tirana
The former minister Ilir Beqaj was left in prison by GJKKO, after his arrest under suspicion of committing corruption and abusing EU funds for SASPAC, at the time he was in charge of this institution.
But along with Beqaj in this corrupt scheme with EU funds, there are also several other people who are also under investigation. In the file of the Special Prosecutor’s Office, provided by the journalist Anila Hoxha, details are disclosed regarding the way the persons in the investigation acted for the benefit of these funds.
It is about an event organized in April 2023, called FESTA, which was financed by SASPAK funds, and it was at this event that the fictitious invoices were “posted” through several companies, which then led to the Gzona restaurant that is suspected of the real owner is Ilir Beqaj, the restaurant that provided the catering service at this event.
From the totality of actions carried out within the framework of the organization of the “Festa” event, it results that the person under investigation, Gazmend Haxhia, in the capacity of partner and administrator of the company “Landëays International” has submitted documents related to the participation in the procurement procedure, which are suspected to have content untrue, such as (preventive) offers regarding the organization of the “Feast” event both in time and in content at SASPAC, signing contracts and reports on the implementation of the contract which are allegedly made with the purpose of benefiting amount of money, while the service turns out to have been offered only for the amount of money that constitutes the provision of dinner for April 03, 2023.
His knowledge of the fictitiousness of the documentation results from the fact of presenting the documentation (which is related to the procurement procedure which should have been developed before April 3, 2023) with his signature that does not coincide, does not correspond in terms of time with the time of the development of the procurement procedure and organization of the event.
As for the person under investigation, Alfred Nikolla, executive director of “Landways International”, from the evidence administered, according to SPAK, it appears that he was personally engaged in the organization of the FESTA event, being present in its organization and having constant communications with the other investigator Ermal Kurtulaj regarding the organization of the dinner.
Also, from the examination of Ermal Kurtulaj’s computer, it appears that the estimate as part of the offer was created by Alfred Nikolla, and during the period May-August 2023, Kurtulaj and Nikolla had meetings with each other, and according to the intercepted conversations, developed in this period of time it turns out that meetings focused their conversations on arranging and signing documents.
Facts that show that Nikolla was involved in the delivery of the documents, knowing that they contain data suspected to be false. Taking into account that the organization of the dinner was carried out in the restaurant “Gzona”, this restaurant was selected, having numerous communications with Ermal Kurtulajn for this organization at this restaurant and issuing invoices at the same time to make the respective payments.
The fact of Ermal’s interest in whether the bill has been paid (showing his irritation at the fact that Gzona’s employee did not tell him about the transfer of payments) shows that the selection of this restaurant was not random, but was part of the prior agreement, which supports the suspicion of the presence of an illegal agreement of a corrupt nature, according to the SPAK, requested and accepted by the persons under investigation Ermal Kurtulaj and Ilir Beqaj, which result data that they carry their own property interests on the subject Gzona Restaurant.
