The road of roses

2025-03-04 12:10:00, Opinione Elsa Demo

The road of roses

by Elsa Demo

The file on the Veliaj-Xoxa couple and other people under investigation is not a text to be informed about. Depending on the field of public interest that each person knows, the document contains the activity of the alliance of elites, the self-proclaimed elites, in politics, business and culture. I am focusing on the latter, with some examples of individuals, organizations and state institutions. I have asked artists, managers, experts in the cultural scene, is it realistic for the Albanian market: the value of 17,000,000 lek for a festival; that the budget items for a musical do not include the conductor, nor the director himself; that the Municipality of Tirana gives 6,300,000 lek for an installation?

The work of investigative experts helps to measure the visible with the invisible of financial crime in culture. All this suggests that, to understand culture, means to understand people, because along with financial crime, the corruption of individuals and social groups has occurred, a parallel system of patronage has been established that has weakened, even collapsed, state institutions for culture and the arts.

In the 366 pages of the file of the Special Court for Corruption and Organized Crime, the reality of the hidden connections between culture and power surpasses any form of artistic or journalistic reproduction, and if the other files in the series with it, which are said to be being prepared, are at the same level, it becomes a document of unusual value for the history of corruption in Albania.

In great literature, the bread thief Jean Valjean becomes mayor and brings justice to the poor, while France even punishes counterfeiting with death. In real life, a mayor and his wife become systemic robbers of people and a crowd of artists and bureaucrats protest so that the corrupt man can stay in office. It takes place in Albania, a country that functions as an open and secret society.

"We will not be an example"

The first data that came out with a bang and overshadowed the shocking facts of the file was the claim of SPAK (Special Structure against Corruption and Organized Crime) that Ajola Xoxa, the wife of the mayor of Tirana, Erion Veliaj, has embezzled 110 ml lek (1.1 ml euro), of which 870,000 euro were spent on luxury clothing. From here came the comparative anecdotes with Imelda Marcos.

The Filipino couple and the Tirana couple are connected by something stronger: a crime against culture. The skill of the financial accountant proves it. So refined is this in the investigative file that the unraveling of the theft can be measured by the skill of the thieves. In both cases, the powerful couples have lived in a reality where they have no longer distinguished between public and private, what belongs to others and what belongs to them. Through art (in her hands more) and construction (in his hands more), they simultaneously created the impression of progress, of finished work.

Under house arrest, Xoxa counters that she is not the puppet that the media presents, that the person who is being lynched and spat on, works "12 hours a day" and her work is qualitative. She declares that she has made her wealth from her business as a legal consultant, from leases, from inheritances, land from her mother's and father's side, shares of the company Botimet Enciklopedike, once state property! In the last six years, she has expanded the activity of her companies, mainly non-profit, and her income has increased significantly.

How did Ajola Xoxa reach this level of performance, to have patronage in the field of contemporary art in Albania, competing with the prime minister, who, while governing, acts with an agenda as an artist, but also has patronage at an institutional level through the Center for Opening and Dialogue. So, how did this young woman go from heiress of an intellectual-artist family to a kleptomaniac?

She started with metaphors as a literary device and turned them into economic and social practice. Sparrow, muse, eventer, zabel, leviathan, zâ, belë, sweet and bitter land, are some of the names of her organizations and works of art, which she commissioned, supervised, curated, invoiced, used and found a place for in the public space.

On Xoxa's personal computer, investigative experts find mistakenly inserted in the NGO "Harabel" folder the statute of the NGO "Eventus", one of the NGOs that Xoxa creates, at a rate of two or three a year, on behalf of her family members. They pass by the Sky Tower just to sign, all the stamps are there and thus the societies become active, overnight, in the art market.

I am choosing the activity of one, to understand the scheme of the others and to see the worldview of this young, educated woman in the West, who smells the benefit from small to large. I am not dealing with the details of the financial practices of NGOs in relation to large companies that benefit from tenders and construction permits from the Municipality of Tirana. I am trying to fill in what my colleagues in the chronicle, of course, have left out.

“Ava Studio” shpk, was founded in October 2021, with Valbona Xoxë, Ajola’s mother, as administrator. Every time a new company is created, the objective is expanded in line with the agendas for absorbing public money.[1] In this case, the activity is opened for publications, festivals, fashion shows, film production and audiovisual materials, etc.

"Ava Studio," says a witness, was born to bill for "services" for artistic projects and piano lessons given by Ajola's mother.

From the phone conversations, significant information emerges about the employment at the University of Mrs. Xoxa, the mother. The economist suggests to the boss that her mother “not appear as employed, since she benefits from the old-age pension, but pass it off as providing a service”. Ajola objects, saying, we will leave it as it is, that “we will not become an example. There are many such pensioners who work”.

This is how “Ava Studio”, without technical capacity, run by a retired woman, formerly a piano teacher, takes on post-production services (video editing, visual effects, color correction) for the client Driant Zeneli, executive director of the “Harabel” Center. The company issues him an invoice for 5,900 euros.

During the investigation, Ajola explained that she herself had directed or designed the visuals at the request of the Ava Studios client, but without being paid.

In one case, citizen Robert Aliaj signed an agreement with “Ava Studio” for the catalog of the 48 Hours International Film Festival, 12th Edition, for the value of 300,000 lek. Xoxa decided that the mother’s name should not appear in the contract and that “Ava” should be represented by one of the employees of the “Partners Law” office, which she has been running for years. This is due to the fact that the budget application is made at the Municipality of Tirana. I do not know if this service was offered, for a product with a limited circulation and for a peripheral activity on the cultural scene, not to mention that, for circulation purposes, an international festival needs, first of all, an electronic catalog. Compared to other benefits, it is nothing, but I see the weight of this small thing in the meeting of a screen influencer with art patrons.

Next, "Ava Studio" takes over the Creative Atelier, a space dedicated to children, in the office premises at Sky Tower, with instructor Eni Zeneli, wife of Driant Zeneli.

According to the testimony of one of the employees, Xoxa gave an amount of 10,000 or 20,000 euros and asked to wait for the invoices, because "the children's parents had given her a prepayment for several months."

From the Zeneli-Xoxa messages:

Xoxa: “Now we will expect some invoices, probably to increase the turnover of “Harabel” for 2020.”
Zeneli: “You know.”
Xoxa: “So, I told Besa and Mirela that they will pay as much as they want for this year, but we will expect the invoices as if they had paid 48,000/lek. So, probably for 6 months.”
Zeneli: “Great.”

According to the financial investigative expertise, “Harabel” has invoiced 7,413,197 lekë from art courses and these services, during 1 and a half years, were not performed according to the value declared in the sale. The invoices were fictitiously issued and returned to Xoxa, who had previously given cash. The file states that she has always had a balance in euros, in large denominations. Judge Erjon Bani raises the suspicion that “even in this case, we are facing a scheme to launder the proceeds of a criminal offense”.

In three years of activity, the sales amount of "Ava Studios" is 44,014,551 lekë, with clients, among others:

Gogel: 7,468,692 lekë (owned by Arbër Veliaj, brother of Erion Veliaj)
Harabel: 3,571,636 lekë
Rametal: 3,501,780 (owned by Elman Abules, businessman under investigation)
Eventus: 3,397,777 lekë (controlled by A.Xoxa)
BYL-A: 2,380,599 lekë (controlled by A.Xoxa)
Elhaida Dani: 564,401 lekë
Frobolous: 540,000 lekë

The “Eventus” Center was created in November 2021, by Linda Kazani, Emil and Erald Simixhiu, the family of Xoxa's uncle. They appoint themselves members of the Board of Directors, as evidenced by the documents signed at the same notary, in Bllok, where all of Xoxa's NGOs have passed. The Simixhiu-Kazani family lived in Austria. And the day they sign, they leave Albania - the Tims system data, in Rinas, show - to then return forever and exercise their “activity” in their homeland. Xoxa declares in SPAK that she does not know any member or executive director of “Eventus”! Yes, Kazani has no idea that the “Eventus” checks are in Xoxa's office.

In 2023, "Eventus" declares total sales of 17,082,800 lek, for a festival financed by:

Municipality of Tirana: 10,580,000 lek
Palushi shpk: 3,237,300 lek (has received a construction permit from the Municipality of Tirana, between 2019-2024)
American Investment Bank: 2,220,000 lek
Ministry of Culture: 900,000 lek

I don't know what kind of festival this is and whether it really happened. Discussing the case, the director of a film festival in Albania tells me that his activity has been operating for years with a fluctuating budget, between a minimum of 500,000 and a maximum of 2.5 million lek. "To do it right," he says, "we would need 5 million, so that we could accommodate all the participants, pay their transportation expenses, and also give out prizes in monetary value. In the conditions we are in, we have given 500 euros to the winners from the Balkans." The director of a music festival also mentions the same figures and considers the value of 5 million lek to be the most satisfactory, but impossible, knowing in whose hands public funds for culture go, as well as the support of foreigners in Albania.

In 2023, with the re-election of Veliaj as mayor, Xoxa escalates her activity. From June to November, she establishes an organization and two galleries: “Muza”, led by Erald Simixhiu, Arben Spartaku and Rea Spartaku, respectively the uncle and two cousins; the “Naan” gallery in Bllok, again in collaboration with Driant Zeneli; and the GurGur gallery in Petrelë, where the mayor sometimes appears. These organizations have broader activity, in line with the updated agendas of the European Union, the government and the Municipality of Tirana, to support marginalized groups, women, young people with disabilities, projects to increase sensitivity to social and health problems, to promote tourism, etc.

I cannot help but mention some facts that highlight the role of the psychological element in this path of roses.

The road of roses

She works hard to eat the whole meadow: to achieve full patronage of the contemporary art scene, that is, of high culture, and to spread into celebrity culture, as a curator of the contemporary dance festival or as a music video director. She orders the financier not to mark "invoice payment" for the sponsors of "Harabel". She is the one who finds the clients, who issue fictitious invoices to justify budget items for other activities. She decides how much and how the "services" are invoiced, when the employees ask what tasks to list to their friends, like Olsi Efthimi, for example, a client of the government and the municipality. She is the one who checks in the name of which company to issue a halved restaurant bill. She determines which company will pay for a bouquet of flowers. She hosts gala evenings at the Brigades Palace, which opens its doors whenever she needs to show her compassion for the national heritage with luxury, with the restoration of “The Teacher” and Roza Anagnostin present, and to turn it into a “Couture Awakening” catwalk, with scenography in black flowers “made by the girls of Harabel”. These, “girls of Harabel”, the employees, are confused in the multitude of companies that are managed by a single office and by a “very scrupulous, but also imposing” boss.

"Remove the visa. You've been patient enough. As if we're their dice," says one.

"Horror! This is theater! I feel like vomiting! Shame!", the other replies.

Even foreigners issue invoices, with descriptions for people who are not actually part of the projects. Domenico de Chirico, who had curated an exhibition for an NGO in Xoxa, issues an invoice for 1,000 euros. With the request to make “probability”, de Chirico’s name appears next to the description “production/coordination curator for Spa: Re project”, for the exhibition “Rear-view mirror” by Idlir Koka, which the Italian did not curate. How does the painter Koka feel, I wonder, when he hears his name and work being used?

To pay artist Adrian Paci, money is taken from the budget foreseen for Ergys Krisikon. The phenomenon "Krisiko", artist, lecturer and businessman, analyzed below, never says "no" to issuing invoices for services never performed for the family companies controlled by Xoxa.

To expand the context, I am touching a little on the BYL-A Center (Balkans Youth Link-Albania). This was founded in 2004 as a non-profit organization with charitable, scientific and educational purposes, by Endri Fuga, Klotilda Ferhati (Bushka) and several others. The former became Rama's PR minister, while Bushka, a member of the Socialist Party, rose to head the Laws Committee in the Albanian Parliament, today involved in the Veliaj-Xoxa affairs. All the stories of those who do not choose to make a profession in life and overcome activism to power are similar.

In 2023, BYL-A expanded for cultural and artistic purposes, under the direction of Xoxa employees. For the period 2022-2024, the organization has declared sales worth 31,521,286 lekë, for activities financed mainly by:

Municipality of Tirana: 5,000,000 lekë
Association of the National Youth Congress (financed by the Municipality of Tirana): 4,000,000 lekë
Ministry of Culture: 3,100,000 lekë

The road of roses

Generally, foreign artists are paid with invoices in the amount of 137,955-176,120 lekë. Among them, I only know the Austrian choreographer Anna Possarnig, whom I interviewed for a very good performance in Tirana. I cannot speak about the contribution of the other artists on this list. But I notice that, among the Albanian artists, those who are close to the Veliaj-Xoxe couple, are paid 2-5 times more. Examples:

Ergys Krisiko: 861,800 lek
Marsela Çibukaj: 325,000 lek.

Why? Because they issue fictitious invoices like Krisiko, or are paid in cash, like Çibukaj.

In one case, even the uncle's daughter-in-law, Linda Kazani, a lecturer at the University of Arts, is paid in cash and a payment order is issued stating that the amount will be transferred to the bank. In addition to violating tax legislation, Judge Bani suspects that, "leaving this trace makes you think about the mutual lack of trust, although in conditions of gender proximity."

The facts of the investigation file fill you with anger, and anger makes you helpless. Helplessness, when analyzed, becomes awareness and strength is gained from it. This is where the person who seeks an explanation for scandals is separated from the person who produces scandals. You have to get out of indignation to understand why theft is the most difficult of jobs. Twelve hours of work a day to kill your mind how to get into a place where the victim does not imagine, before the day is over, to jump into a new theft, to fall into a pathological cycle and reward yourself with a dress made of wool or fine animal hair.[5] Without knowing where this passion comes from and to understand what the soul was like before it inhabited the body that toils in theft schemes, he seeks the help of psychoanalysis and a podcast (about entrepreneurship, fashion, body shaming, role models: Don't try to be a Kardashian-Be You!.. blah, blah, blah).

– What did psychoanalysis tell you?

– I was a rose, I was a perfume, I was a sparrow, and even a dog, once, but I returned as a god.