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Erion Veliaj is suspected of giving a building permit for a palace to the Ajola tribe

2025-02-16 10:30:00, Denoncim CNA

Erion Veliaj is suspected of giving a building permit for a palace to the Ajola

Erion Veliaj at the construction site

The mayor signed a building permit for a palace on the property of his wife and mother-in-law, which was transferred for 140 thousand euros to her cousin, Valmir Xoxa - an academic and musician in the Tirana Municipality brass band, in a transaction that SPAK raises suspicions of being fictitious.

On the night of November 26, 2019, as the tremors of the most devastating earthquake of this century hit Tirana, Valmir Xoxa and his wife rushed out of their home, taking with them only two small pillows. According to Xoxa, there were the savings of a life of asceticism – supported by a salary as a lecturer at the Academy of Arts and an additional salary as a member of the capital’s brass band.

But despite his modest income, Xoxa managed to make an investment that has piqued the interest of SPAK special prosecutors. With savings hidden in his pillow and, according to him, undeclared income from tennis lessons, he bought a property for 145 thousand euros and a car for 23 thousand euros from his cousins, Ajola and Valbona Xoxa.

Today, a palace is being built on this property, approved with the signature of Ajola's husband, the mayor of Tirana, Erion Veliaj. And this has led to Valmir Xoxa's confession ending up in the investigation file for corruption and money laundering against the mayor.

On January 16, 2025, Valmir Xoxa sat down before SPAK prosecutors to explain the source of his wealth. In his statement, cited in the request for a security measure against Veliaj, Xoxa claims that he and his wife had saved every penny, avoiding any unnecessary expenses.

“The declarant states that they have not spent a single lek for a long time, as their expenses as a family were taken over by his mother-in-law,” the SPAK document states. “They themselves have not spent on food or anything else, as they had to save the lek.”

But prosecutors are not convinced. They suspect that the transaction of selling shares in two villas, from Ajola and Valbona Xoxa to Valmir Xoxa, was fictitious, given that the latter did not have sufficient income to justify the purchase of the assets and the car.

His transactions are suspected of being a scheme to hide Veliaj's direct connection to the property on which he later signed the building permit.

Valmir Xoxa is the son of Ajola Xoxa's uncle. According to his statements to the prosecutor, Valmir receives a salary of 92 thousand lek per month from the Academy of Arts and 20 thousand lek as an additional salary from the brass band of the Municipality of the capital.

But, despite limited income and in the absence of documented assets, he managed to make a series of real estate purchases and deals that are today under investigation by the Special Prosecution Office Against Corruption and Organized Crime.

Part of SPAK's voluminous investigation is a transaction carried out in 2020, when Valmir Xoxa bought for 140 thousand euros the taxable share of two villas from his cousins, Ajola and Valbona Xoxa, heirs of publicist Arben Xoxa. The purchased land and buildings were located near Shkollë e Kuqe, a central area of ??Tirana. According to Valmir Xoxa, he intended to settle on the third floor of one of the villas.

Shortly after this transaction, the villas were demolished and the land was given for development to a construction firm, which then secured a building permit from the Municipality of Tirana, signed by Erion Veliaj himself, the mayor and Ajola Xoxa's husband.

This coincidence has led SPAK to raise doubts about the legality of the transaction and Valmir Xoxa's income.

Despite the fact that, according to SPAK, the declarant changed his version of the facts several times, he ultimately claimed that by giving his share of the condominium for construction, he would benefit from a 60 m² apartment, a 70 m² shop and a parking space, although he himself had no information about the builder, the configuration of the properties and had not even gone to see the building.

Also, according to the prosecution, in the same period that this citizen allegedly had around 140 thousand euros in cash savings in his apartment, he applied for and received a soft housing loan from the Municipality of Tirana, for around 40 thousand euros.

According to SPAK, with this money, instead of immediately securing housing for himself and his family, Valmiri ordered another apartment, in the same building which is being built on the land he co-owns.

The palace was built by the firm 'Atelier 4', with Alban Efthimi as administrator. His brother, Olsi Efthimi, is a close friend of the Xoxa-Veliaj couple. Efthimi stated in SPAK that he had no knowledge of who had contacted him about the project on the Xoxa clan property.

Suspicions have also been raised by the purchase of a 2010 Benz C-Class vehicle by Valmir. He paid Valbona Xoxa 23 thousand euros for the car in 2022, while the same vehicle was purchased by the late Arben Xoxa for 7 thousand euros.

The declarant stated in SPAK that he had set the price himself, for sentimental reasons but also because the vehicle was in very good condition, calling it a "super vehicle". However, 6 months after purchasing the vehicle, the Benz suffered a defect and Valmiri sold it for 11 thousand euros.

"Although he purchased the vehicle for 23 thousand euros, the declarant states that Ajola Xoxa wanted to sell it below the current price of the property, but he insisted on buying it at the above price," SPAK writes.

"When asked about the method of liquidating the vehicle, in bank or cash form, the declarant replied that he did not remember," concludes the SPAK document. /Reporter.al