The parliamentary committee of inquiry on waste incinerators in Albania completed all hearings, with an unprecedented live broadcast of Prime Minister Edi Rama’s 10-hour testimony on Wednesday.
Established at the request of the opposition, over its 4-month mandate, the committee inquired into the procedures that led to the approval and construction of three waste treatment plants in Fier, Elbasan and Tirana through concession agreements.
The Albanian government approved contracts for the construction and operation of these incinerators in different stages, after a newly created company—with no capital or experience—presented a proposal for Elbasan in 2014.
Exit News was the first media to publish an extensive analysis of the projects in 2017 by Artan Rama, raising the alarm that a corruption scandal was likely to hide behind the affair.
As of today, the Elbasan incinerator has been completed, but the plant is non-operational and was seized by the prosecutor’s office over suspicions of corruption. The Fier incinerator is still under construction, while works for the Tirana plant haven’t started yet.
In all three cases, the terms for the completion of the works have been surpassed by several years. The government has paid the company more than €55 million for the Elbasan and Fier incinerators, and roughly €37 million for Tirana so far.
A network of dozens of other companies were created by the owners of “Integrated Energy BV SPV” to pay tens of millions for services that were never obtained.
The concession agreements estimate that at least €430 million in public money will have to be paid to private companies owned by the same individuals until 2047.
An investigation has been launched by the Special Anti-Corruption and Organized Crime Prosecution (SPAK), and former Minister of Environment Lefter Koka was arrested over suspicions of corruption in December 2021.
Concessionaires Klodian Zoto and Stela Gugallja are wanted by the police, while a third person, Mirel Mertiri, is believed to be involved behind the curtain as a third owner.
The opposition alleges that the whole corruption affair was led by Prime Minister Edi Rama, along with corrupt officials and businessmen who together created what amounts to a “structured criminal group”, as defined by Albanian law.
Part of this alleged criminal group were the then ministers Damian Gjiknuri, Arben Ahmetaj, Lefter Koka, Belinda Balluku, and Mayor of Tirana Erion Veliaj, according to accusations by the opposition.
Over a dozen officials, company employees and journalists testified before the committee over the past three days. While no substantial new evidence appeared in the televised sessions, the show grabbed public attention, culminating with a 10-hour back-and-forth between the prime minister and opposition members of the committee headed by Democratic MP Jorida Tabaku.
All officials and company employees denied any wrongdoing while avoiding most of the questions regarding specific procedures and decisions.
Following are summaries of the most relevant testimonies.
Prime Minister Edi Rama’s Testimony
Rama kept his 10-hour testimony focused on two elements. Firstly, he vehemently denied allegations of a “structured criminal group”, stressing that responsibility is only personal. He praised the government’s work with incinerators, his collaboration with all ministers involved, and said he was proud of how clean Albanian has become through these incinerators.
Secondly, Rama underlined over and over again that the €430 million price tag claimed by the opposition is not true. He accused MP Jorida Tabaku of manipulating the public into believing that they had already paid for this amount straight from their pockets in the last seven years, and clarified that actually the sum is closer to €90 million. Tabaku explained again that the €430 million amount is prescribed in the contracts for waste incineration services over 30 years, or until 2047.
Rama denied any wrongdoing, strongly defended the Albanian incinerators as an “environmental revolution”, and stressed his trust in the new justice institutions. He dodged nearly all questions regarding procedures and decision-making, claiming he only cared about the end result: a clean country.
None of his Socialist Party’s eight committee members had any questions for their leader during the 10-hour testimony.
In his trademark sarcastic tone, Rama summarized the events along the following lines: The €430 million corruption affair was undertaken by a structured criminal group that he himself led, in order for it to be discovered by opposition leader Lulzim Basha, who would then push Parliament to establish a committee of inquiry with the support of foreign embassies, and come out as a hero out of the whole affair.
Former Minister of Finance Arben Ahmetaj’s Testimony
Deputy prime minister Arben Ahmetaj, also former minister of finance when contracts were approved, was also asked whether he knew the concessionaire owners, he replied that he had “no business, work or family relation” with any of them. He gave the same answer when asked whether he had been in a car accident abroad while traveling with one of them, Mirel Mertiri.
The opposition maintains that police data shows Ahmetaj has traveled abroad on 12 occasions with one of the owners in the 2012-2019 period.
Former Minister of Finance Shkelqim Cani’s Testimony
Former minister of finance Shkelqim Cani, who was replaced by Arben Ahmeti in 2016, dodged the question whether it was his refusal to approve incinerator concessionaire contracts that led to his dismissal.
Former Minister of Infrastructure Damian Gjiknuri’s Testimony
Former minister of infrastructure Damian Gjiknuri was asked whether he had met Klodian Zoto and Mirel Mertiri, the two main owners of the three concessionaires. He replied he had no close relationship with them but he had worked with Zoto in one of his previous jobs, and had been classmates with Mertiri. Opposition MPs claimed he had traveled with both of them seven times during 2012-2019, according to border police records, to which Gjiknuri replied that it was a coincidence the three of them had been on the same flights. Asked whether incinerator projects had been overall successful, he replied that the road connecting Albania with Kosovo, constructed during the government of Sali Berisha, was much worse and more costly.
Mayor of Tirana Erion Veliaj’s Testimony
Mayor of Tirana Erion Veliaj was asked whether his approval in March 2017 of the Tirana incinerator concessionaire was based on a decision by the Municipal Council, as required by law. Veliaj confirmed and provided the medium term budget approved by the Council in September 2017. Tabaku warned the mayor that he was lying under oath. She argued the document he presented was approved six months after his signature and was not a Council decision approving the incinerator construction. Veliaj insisted that one of the items in the medium term budget states that “the mayor is in charge of implementing obligations” of the municipality. Following Tabaku’s allegations against him for lying under oath, Veliaj changed his narrative, stating that his approval was only “in principle”, and later on that a Council decision in this case was not a legal requirement after all. He then went on with sexist remarks against Tabaku, saying she was asking “hysterical” questions.
General Secretary of Council of Minister Engjell Agaci’s Testimony
General Secretary of the Council of Ministers, Engjell Agaci, defended the procedures relating to his institution and denied exerting any pressure on anyone or having been under pressure by the prime minister. Asked on how he explained the conclusion of 17 procedures on one incinerator concluded in one single day by a dozen of central and local government institutions, he said it was thanks to an electronic system installed in 2010.
Minister of Infrastructure Belinda Balluku’s Testimony
Minister of Infrastructure Belinda Balluku denied any responsibility for monitoring the implementation of concessionaire contracts. She said it was a unit with officials from several ministries that was responsible for it.
Fier Incinerator Administrator’s Testimony
Loran Dusha, the administrator of Fier incinerator, said on several occasions that he couldn’t remember important facts like why the company had made a €23 million transfer to one of its owners, as well as a number of other smaller transactions.
The committee of inquiry is highly likely to come up with two reports according to party lines, with the opposition claiming this was a huge corruption affair, and the ruling party defending the incinerators project as an “environmental revolution”, despite repeated criticism by the European Union over the last years for it being the least favorable option to dispose of waste.
It remains unclear whether changes to legislation will be proposed by the opposition, in order to avoid similar situations in the future, which usually is a main objective of such committees.
Their conclusions will be presented to the special prosecution, although there will be hardly any new evidence to be included in the file.
The televised testimonies of the last week have made the “incinerators affair” a major public debate topic for Albanians. It remains to be seen how deep into the matter the special prosecution will go in their investigations, seven years after red flags were raised by Exit News, followed by more investigations of other independent media like BIRN.
