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Suel Çela and Erion Veliaj, the anatomy of the collapse of SPAK

2024-12-11 11:01:00, Opinione Armand Shkullaku

Suel Çela and Erion Veliaj, the anatomy of the collapse of SPAK

Armand Shkullaku

The search in the apartment of Erion Veliaj, more than the questions about his personal fate, raised a big question about the fate of SPAK itself and the new justice. The investigation into the mayor of Tirana, which for a long time has placed SPAK at a compromising crossroads, is probably the last stone to definitively mark the downfall of the special prosecution.

The "Veliaj" case, along with the famous Elbasan file, are the two "par excellence" cases that embody the reasons why SPAK was established and that this structure fulfills the expectations and hopes of citizens. They are the perfect anatomy of the rise and fall of a state. A special prosecutor's office, sold with the sensational investment of the Americans, was motivated precisely by the country's vital need to free itself from two untouchable phenomena: Organized Crime and Corruption.

Leaving aside what has been said and not said about SPAK prosecutors, they already have two symbols in their hands that are the meaning of the very existence of this structure. The way they will behave towards them, will either finally bury the idea of ??Albanian "di pietros" who have free and clean hands to act, or it can restore the belief that the investment for this prosecutor was worth it. So far, the signs show that SPAK has neither the strength nor the will to become the "hero" of Albanian justice.

The Elbasani case is a typical and perhaps the most culminating affair of the entanglement of organized crime, politics, justice and the media. A powerful criminal organization works to secure votes for the ruling party, pays bribes to high justice officials, hijacks tenders with public money, uses political power to hit rivals, etc. For SPAK, the names and deeds of this gang were known at least three or four years ago. Its members have acted openly in Elbasan, challenging the order thanks to the political support they enjoyed. The special prosecutors received the wiretaps that came from Belgium, kept them in the drawers for a long time and launched the investigations when the protagonists had the right time to either leave or clean their tracks.

However, browsing this file, despite the delay, SPAK has once again exposed to Albanians the anatomy of the rotten body of a state controlled by crime. Will the prosecutors be able to break down the mechanism of the votes that Suel Çela says Balla needs? Will they manage to go to the millions of euros with which Rilindja rented the gang after the end of the elections? Will they care to investigate within themselves if the Elbasan organization has spread its tentacles there as well?

Until now, SPAK has not shown any will in this direction. Although both the crime in Elbasan and its connections with local and central exponents of the Renaissance have been denounced for several years, the special prosecutors are still not proving that they want to get to the root of it. Instead of powerful names, they diverted attention to two journalists, according to the motto much ado about nothing.

The Veliaj affair is the other side of the coin that would have to justify the existence of SPAK. That of corruption. If the Elbasan file is the anatomy of organized crime, the Municipality of Tirana is the anatomy of corruption. An entire management dome that embezzles public money by transferring it to the accounts of its own private companies. A daily financial hemorrhage that captures tens of millions of euros for an incinerator that does not exist. Even these abuses denounced by the media and the opposition for several years, SPAK takes it up again despite the fact that we are dealing with a typical case of corruption at the highest levels. So with one of the reasons for the existence of SPAK itself.

As in the case of Elbasan, again protracted investigations, people in office who can destroy or hide evidence, financial damage that only increases. And when you compare this modus operandi with the dizzying investigative speed of Safet Gjic's attempted corruption of a dog shelter, you understand that the "heroes" prioritize political interest and not public interest.

It is precisely these two typical cases, which also illustrate the sensational name of SPAK, that today have placed it at the final crossroads of continuity. The approach to the Elbasan file and the Veliaj affair will determine either a new turn in the fight against organized crime and corruption or the final fall of "our children's heroes". Not on the battlefield, but in the marriage bed with power.