Rama Drops Balluku / Top Channel Goes on the Attack: “Why Is SPAK Delaying the Arrest Request

Until yesterday part of the tables where decisions were made, Belinda Balluku now seems to have entered Edi Rama’s power menu. The first signals were given by government-friendly media.

Top Channel just attacked Belinda Balluku with a report signaling a visible change of course toward the former deputy prime minister.

The reporting focuses on contacts with the construction company Balfin for the “Green Coast” project and with architect Alban Eftimiu of the “Atelie 4” studio, two entities whose communications are found in SPAK’s file on villa no. 188 on the coast.

“In SPAK’s investigative file, Balluku’s name appears in several of the communications about the villa. In another document, on the pool works, there is the note ‘PISHINA ARBER ABAZI (DHERMI) + BELINDA’, with a value of 25 thousand euros,” Top Channel reports.

Unlike until now, when it has kept a sterile stance on Balluku’s affairs or petted the former energy minister with promotional interviews and chronicles, Top Channel this time openly raises the question: “Why is SPAK delaying on Balluku?”

The national television also emphasized the luxury of the former deputy prime minister’s properties, choosing among the main headlines the message “25 thousand euros just the pool”, accompanied by another headline “Silence on Balluku’s villa”.

The first signals of the changed approach toward Balluku’s immunity were given by Edi Rama in the interview a few days ago with Rudina Xhunga. The prime minister said he was not defending his former deputy, while he justified the majority’s vote in Parliament last year with the claim that the judiciary had overstepped its powers by interfering in the executive branch.

“She has an issue with justice there, where neither I nor anyone defends her; there she defends herself as far as defending herself goes,” Rama said.

Lapsi.al reported earlier that SPAK’s new request for Balluku’s arrest, addressed to Parliament, is a matter of days.

This request comes at a moment when the former deputy prime minister’s criminal position has worsened considerably. SPAK merged several criminal proceedings into the “Balluku” file, while the list of accused persons and companies was expanded. Among them are Balluku’s former subordinates and businessmen suspected of benefiting from public tenders in exchange for bribes and favors.

Balluku is accused of “Violation of equality in tenders”, committed in cooperation, “Concealment of property”, “Passive corruption of high state officials” and “Money laundering”, the latter more than once.

The investigation began with the Llogara Tunnel tender, but later expanded to a series of large infrastructure procedures. SPAK accuses Balluku of violation of equality in tenders in eight cases, including the Llogara Tunnel, the works at Shqiponja Square and several lots of the Tirana Great Ring Road.

Then, the file was further aggravated by findings related to the properties that SPAK suspects Balluku obtained as bribes.

In June, the Prosecution announced that the former deputy prime minister is suspected of obtaining a villa worth 145 thousand euros in Dhërmi from the company “Eurocol”, in exchange for favoring the company in a tender during the time Balluku headed Albcontrol. According to SPAK, the property was hidden through a money laundering scheme, which also involved former footballer Igli Tare.

Later, investigators also seized a second villa, this time in the “Green Coast” complex in Palasë. The property was formally registered in Tare’s name, but SPAK claims it was in Balluku’s “indirect ownership”.

According to the investigation, the luxurious works of the villa and pool, with a value that according to the seizures ranged from about 289 thousand to 411 thousand euros, were paid by “Alko Impex General Construction” of businessman Arbër Abazi. In the same period, this company benefited, together with “2T”, from the 2.2 billion lek tender for Lot 7 of the Great Ring Road.

SPAK claims the tender was manipulated under Balluku’s instructions and that paying for the villa works was the reward for favoring the company. Among the collected evidence are seized communications, financial documents and architects’ emails, including direct communications with Balluku about how the villa should be designed.

In spring, the Socialist majority led by Edi Rama blocked SPAK’s request to pave the way for the security measure against Balluku.

The decision brought strong international reactions. The embassies of Germany, Britain and the Netherlands, as well as the European Commission, demanded that SPAK be able to investigate high-level corruption without political obstacles, directly linking this standard to the European integration process.

Rama then reacted harshly to the international pressure. He declared that SPAK has no “carte blanche” for arresting politicians and defended his majority’s decision in Parliament.

But now the situation seems to be changing. Lapsi.al sources said SPAK is expected to knock for the second time on Parliament’s door. And this time on the table is no longer just the initial tender file, but a broader investigation, with charges of corruption, money laundering, concealment of property and two villas that the Prosecution claims are products of corrupt benefits. /Lapsi.al