130 million euros/ The Brussels court orders Eurocontrol to transfer the blocked money to Becchetti

2024-11-02 20:58:00, Aktualitet CNA

130 million euros/ The Brussels court orders Eurocontrol to transfer the blocked

Photomontage - Edi Rama and Francesco Becchetti

Despite Edi Rama's promises that Francesco Becchetti would not take a single penny of the Albanians' money, the Italian businessman has received the right to confiscate 130 million euros of the money he kept blocked for several years in Albania's Eurocontrol account. The Court of First Instance in Brussels has ordered the Eurocontrol agency to execute the decision by transferring the blocked funds to the account of Becchetti's executor.

"In a decision dated October 17, 2024, the sequestration judge of the French-speaking Court of First Instance of Brussels confirmed that the decision should be implemented immediately and ruled that Eurocontrol, which holds funds for the Republic of Albania, has a legal obligation to transfer the funds of frozen for Becchetti's bailiff," Euroreporter reveals.

130 million euros/ The Brussels court orders Eurocontrol to transfer the blocked

With this decision, Becchetti's executor will confiscate 108 million euros of the arbitration fine against Albania plus interests and interest, which in total amount to about 130 million euros.

And according to the decision, the government no longer has any instrument to stop the confiscation.

"The court further ruled that any appeal would not have a suspensive effect on the forfeiture decision," the decision revealed.

TRIAL

In April 2019, the International Court for the Settlement of Investment Disputes in Washington (ICSID), part of the World Bank, sentenced the Albanian government to pay a 108 million euro fine on behalf of Francesco Becchetti for the seizure of Agon Channel.

Immediately after this decision, the Italian businessman turned to a court in Belgium to authorize the execution of the fine. Becchetti had marked the money that Albania earns from the airspace which the flight companies deposit in Eurocontrol and the latter returns to the Albanian Albcontrol.

In December 2020, the Belgian court ordered the immediate blocking of Albania's Eurocontrol account. Since that moment, Albcontrol has not been able to withdraw a single penny from the revenues from the use of Albania's airspace.

According to the company's financial statements, it appears that by the end of 2023, Albcontrol had about 10.3 billion ALL or over 103 million euros blocked by Becçhetti in Brussels.

Desperate efforts

The Albanian government tried for four consecutive years in a desperate legal battle on both fronts, both in arbitration and in the Belgian courts, to stop the confiscation of the money.

Initially, in 2021, the State Bar appealed the decision of the Washington Arbitration requesting its annulment. But the cancellation request was rejected. Two years later, the government asked the same court to review the fine. This request was also rejected.

Meanwhile, on the Belgian front, the government appealed the decision to confiscate the money in Appeal and lost. Then he tried to stop their confiscation by the bailiff, but two weeks ago he lost this lawsuit as well.

Currently, Albania has two other lawsuits pending on this matter. The first is in the Supreme Court of Belgium, where the government has requested immunity for Albcontrol's money, arguing that it cannot be seized as it is important for national security, but also for the 41 countries that are part of Eurocontrol.

the second case is at the Paris Court of Appeal, where the government has sought the annulment of the ICSID arbitration award.

But despite these two issues, the court in Belgium has ordered the immediate confiscation of the money, giving Becchetti's bailiff the unappealable right to confiscate the frozen money and transfer it to the Italian businessman's account.

Accountability

The loss of 130 million euros by Albanian citizens has concrete names of responsibilities. They are all found in the decision of the Court of Arbitration. The first is Prime Minister Edi Rama with his public statements against the Italian businessman, which the court considered as evidence of Becchetti's political persecution.

130 million euros/ The Brussels court orders Eurocontrol to transfer the blocked

Rames' public statements that were used as a basis for the Arbitration decision

This is the biggest financial damage caused to Albanian taxpayers. But apart from Edi Rama, this damage has two other co-authors. The first is Erion Veliaj, who sent threatening SMS when Agon journalists filmed his wedding in Gjirokastra Castle.

130 million euros/ The Brussels court orders Eurocontrol to transfer the blocked

Veliaj's SMS to Agon Channel journalists, which was used as a basis for the Arbitration decision

The second co-author is Engjëll Agaçi, the General Secretary of the Prime Minister's Office. During a lunch at the former Berlinin restaurant in Tirana, he threatened Becchetti with mafia messages.

130 million euros/ The Brussels court orders Eurocontrol to transfer the blocked

Agac's threat was used as a basis for the Arbitration decision

These three, with their actions, took 130 million euros from Albanian citizens, in exchange for nothing.

In front of the Becchetti pit, even the incinerator looks like an honest business, since at least Zoto and Mërtir planted some trees in Sharre, while the Italian businessman got the money thanks to Rama, Veliaj and Agac, leaving the Prime Minister's Noc Rrok to the Albanians./ Kapitali