Pressure and intimidation/ Couple Veliaj and Bushka accused of obstruction of justice

2025-02-14 11:23:00, Denoncim CNA

Pressure and intimidation/ Couple Veliaj and Bushka accused of obstruction of

Adela Kondakçiu spent the last two days before appearing to testify at the Special Prosecution Office in briefing meetings with her boss, Ajola Xoxa, and lawyers. Kondakçiu had been working as Xoxa's financier since 2018, and the meetings were intended to instruct her on what to say at SPAK.

Adela testified to investigators on December 12 that Xoxa and her lawyers asked her to be concise, to say “I don’t remember,” and to take her time with her answers. They also wanted to know what conversations she had stored on her phone, which had previously been seized by SPAK.

This is just one episode of what the Special Prosecution considers an organized effort to intimidate witnesses.

According to the security measure decision, the Mayor of Tirana, Erion Veliaj and his subordinates in the municipality, together with his wife Ajola Xoxa and the chairwoman of the Laws Commission, Klotilda Bushka, actively engaged in a campaign to intimidate witnesses, poison evidence and obstruct the investigation in December last year and January this year.

Veliaj himself is accused of sending intimidating messages to investigators from the National Bureau of Investigation, asking them to stop calling his wife to give statements, while City Hall officials were present at the meetings that Xoxa held with the witnesses in the case, before and after their interrogation sessions by SPAK.

“The Special Prosecution Office… has irrefutable evidence that most of the declarants called by us were contacted before and after the interrogation sessions by the citizens under investigation, specifically the wife of the mayor of Tirana,” SPAK says.

"The presence of important employees of the Tirana municipality, direct subordinates of citizen Erion Veliaj, both during the contacts that citizen Ajola Xoxa had with the persons summoned to give statements at the Special Prosecution Office, as well as during the moments of the search at the offices of "Partners Law" shpk, proves the intention to jeopardize the collection of evidence...", the decision adds.

The long-serving mayor of Tirana was arrested on Monday by order of the Special Court on charges of corruption and money laundering. He is suspected of having created a well-thought-out corrupt scheme to benefit from bribes from Tirana Municipality funds, through a network of NGOs and companies controlled by his wife.

On Wednesday evening, the Special Court confirmed the 'prison arrest' measure against Veliaj, while leaving Ajola Xoxa under 'compulsory appearance', given that she is the mother of a minor child.

Veliaj has denied the allegations through Facebook posts from his cell, while also responding with accusations against the prosecutor in the case, Ols Dado.

"My family and I have nothing to do with the word corruption," Veliaj wrote, while attacking the prosecutor in the case as a 'perverted individual.'

Prime Minister Edi Rama also defended Erion Veliaj, describing his arrest as unconstitutional and the accusations as a 'detective novel'.

"So, essentially we are facing a case that creates reasonable suspicion of an investigation off the constitutional tracks and a detention in violation of democratic standards," Rama said.

Meanwhile, the chairwoman of the Laws Committee, Klotilda Bushka, denied having pressured one of the witnesses and complained that she was not given the opportunity to be heard by SPAK.

Intimidation of witnesses

Balkans Youth Link Albania – BYL-A – is a non-profit organization founded in 2002 and is known as the parent organization of the MJAFT movement. BYL-A was led by Endri Fuga until 2009 and for a short period after his resignation, by Klotilda Ferhati (Bushka). Bushka has also been a board member of the organization.

In 2016, when BYL-A was almost a dormant organization, Bushka's cousin, Ina Goxhaj, was appointed executive director. However, Goxhaj has told the Prosecution that she only had the name of leader, but no role. According to SPAK, BYL-A was initially controlled by Klotilda Bushka and after 2022 by Ajola Xoxa.

In her testimony before SPAK on December 13, Goxhaj spoke of a coordinated effort to influence her statements and conceal the facts during the investigation. She said she had met several times with Bushka, Xoxa and several lawyers, who had instructed her to deny everything and conceal the facts.

In one of the meetings at Bushka's parents' house, the latter had ordered her “to deny everything” during questioning. Her concern was also related to the address of BYL-A, which, according to the declarant, should not have been revealed to be her home.

In a second meeting at a law firm, Ajola Xoxa asked Goxhaj to hand over his phone and then checked it regarding the conversations he had – conversations that had worried him.

"The declarant explained that Ajola, Klotilda and the lawyer made the decision for her not to appear at the Special Prosecution Office. The declarant adds that Ajola Xoxa then brought her a new iPhone 12 and told her that her Samsung A35 phone would be destroyed," the decision said.

In a subsequent meeting on December 14, Goxhaj testifies that she was instructed to “resist and not reveal the reality of the situation.” She also felt pressured, as she believed that they would find out what she would say and information would leak, as they had people “inside the Prosecution.”

Goxhaj also testified that Bushka had contacted him again at the Ombudsman's office on January 14, 2025, and after Ballanca had left the office, had asked him if he had any concerns or if SPAK had called him again.

According to the declarant's testimony, Bushka had also told her that "Adela has brought us many consequences and is a negative person with whom we have collaborated." She had ordered her several times not to start talking to Adela or other people about the meetings she had had with her.

The Special Prosecution Office is investigating the chairwoman of the Laws Commission, Klotilda Bushka, for committing acts with the aim of obstructing the discovery of the truth, but she denied these accusations.

"Yes, I have met the girl in question as a person I once worked with and have family ties, blood ties. I have calmed her down by advising her to tell the truth and if she deems it necessary to get a lawyer," Bushka said in a statement from the Assembly.

"I did not prevent him from saying anything, nor did I attempt to hide any truth, because I am the first and most interested in the truth coming out as soon as possible," she added.

Restriction of freedom

According to SPAK, the coordinated effort to intimidate witnesses and obstruct the investigation was one of the key factors in the placement of Tirana Mayor Erjon Veliaj under the security measure of “prison arrest.” Ajola Xoxa was initially placed under house arrest because she was the mother of a minor child – a measure that was later eased to an obligation to appear after her court appearance on Wednesday.

In the request to the Court, the Special Prosecution Office assessed that there is a real and ongoing risk of manipulation or concealment of evidence if Veliaj or Xoxa are not subject to restrictions of liberty.

This risk stems from Veliaj's function as mayor of Tirana, his strong influence in the administration, as well as his behavior during the investigations, including threatening messages to BKH investigators and other interference in the process. Xoxa, on the other hand, has contacted and directed witnesses before and after questioning, influencing their statements.

The court has deemed this request by SPAK fair, arguing that the risk of obtaining and verifying the authenticity of evidence is real and ongoing if Veliaj and Xoxa are not subject to measures restricting their freedom.

"This request is argued with the aim of the Special Prosecution Office to avoid as much as possible the obstruction, slowing down or even the irregular diversion of the process of proving and verifying the circumstances of the fact related to the criminal proceedings in question," the court argues.

"This risk has proven to be tangible throughout the entire preliminary investigation up to this moment, especially in relation to the persons who have been called to make statements to the proceeding body, but also with the behavior that the citizens under investigation have displayed during this period," the decision emphasizes./ Reporter.al