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The arrested director of the Municipality received a special status for a 5-star hotel in Durrës

2024-03-29 20:21:00, Denoncim CNA

The arrested director of the Municipality received a special status for a 5-star

On October 6, 2021, the Minister of Environment and Tourism, Mirela Kumbaro, announced, among other government decisions, the granting of special status for the construction of a 5-star hotel in Durrës in favor of the "Mediterranean Investment Group" company.

Kumbaro presented this as an investment of 15 million euros, which according to her was "a continuation of the tourism strategy of the Albanian government to increase the powerful investors, but also the most powerful brands of world tourism".

The company that benefited from the tax exemption through special status was linked to Redi Molla - the former arrested director of the Tirana Waterworks, who is accused by SPAK of criminal offenses of corruption and concealment of wealth.

"Mediterranean Investment Group" was founded in September 2020 and one of the shareholders with 24% was Selim Molla, Redi Molla's late father, who inherited the shares from his son in February 2024.

At the time when the company with his father as a shareholder received the special status of "Investor in a 5-star accommodation structure, special status", Molla was the administrator of Tirana DC, a company with 100 percent shareholder the Municipality of Tirana, which he managed until in 2023. Earlier, he was the head of Tirana Water and Sewerage for 5 years from 2016 to 2020.

Molla was arrested on Thursday by SPAK on the charge of corruption with the tenders of the Municipality of Tirana and the enterprises under its ownership. SPAK accuses Molla together with other municipal officials of favoring the company 5D Konstruksion in public works tenders. The company is registered in the ownership of Nestor Muhametllari, but the prosecution claims that it has de facto owners Molla and the other director of the Municipality of Tirana, Mariglen Qato.

The 5D Construction company was founded in 2016 under the name "Igor Elektrik" and then changed its name in 2019 to VAS Construction and in 2021 to 5D Construction.

The company's balance sheet data filed with the National Business Center show that its revenue was 2.2 billion lek [about 20 million euros] for the period from 2016 when it was founded until 2022. From procurement data public, the company has won 29 contracts with a total value of 1.8 billion ALL.

According to the SPAK, the investigations for Molla and the other accused persons in this case started mainly in April 2023, while a criminal report was also attached to them by the opposition candidate for mayor of Tirana in the local elections of the year past, Belind Kelliçi. According to SPAK, Qato and Molla had hidden the ownership of the 5D Konstruksion company through fictitious partners in the registration documents. Molla has denied the accusations in a public statement, claiming that he had no connection with the company and that the accusations were a political attack.

The government of Prime Minister Edi Rama has often been accused of favoring his own people and a group of oligarchs in granting special status for the construction of hotels in tourism or the status of a strategic investor.

Asked if he had favored the company related to Molla in granting the special status, the prime minister did not respond until the publication of this article, while the administrator of the company "Mediterranean Investment Group", Dritan Kadiu, said over the phone that the company had several shareholders, but not preferred to comment on Molla's case since "he was not clear about the circumstances"./ Reporter.al





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