By Adriatik Doçi
The interim Chief Prosecutor of Kukës, Edmond Karriqi, who was arrested three days ago by SPAK, after taking 2 thousand euros from a defendant in exchange for mitigation of the measure against him, has closed in cooperation with Judge Isuf Shehu, an abuse file flagrant with the public money of former officials in the Socialist Movement for Integration with fictitious / party employments at Kukës Airport. In October 2017, Karriqi, as soon as he received the file, withdrew it from the court claiming that he would deepen the investigation, but a month later he asked the court to close the file with the argument that he did not find ‘evidence’.
This is just one side of the scandal. Prosecutor Rita Gjati, who had conducted the investigation, had proven the massive abuse with expertise and that took to court the file of the former director of Kukes Airport, Agron Xhafa, then candidate for deputy of the SMI, was punished by Adriatik Llalla, at that time chief prosecutor, being transferred to Tropoja.
Rita Gjati was punished after she refused the pressure to close the abuse file by the people of Ilir Meta and Monika Kryemadhi. Just a few months later, the US State Department declared Llalla non grata Adriatic for protecting the corruption of high-level politicians, sending a strong message to Ilir Meta and Sali Berisha, the duo that appointed Llalla as head of the General Prosecutor’s Office. in 2012, after previously entrusting the management of the institution of declaration and control of assets.
On May 20, 2021, the Special Court, at the request of the SPAK, sentenced Llalla to two years in prison, precisely for non-declaration of assets. Judge Isuf Shehu was fired for illegal assets. Ilir Meta was fired by the Assembly as President, while he has started to isolate himself from American politics. But, ironically, the prosecutor Rita Gjati, the only one who sought justice for the fictitious employment affair at Kukes Airport, was penalized in the first instance of Vetting, counting as a ‘sin’ her request for the trial of this case. .
Fictitious employment
In July 2017, prosecutor Rita Gjati launched an investigation into fictitious employment at Kukes Airport. The investigation showed that at the end of 2016 and the beginning of 2017, which coincided with the pre-election period, Kukes Airport employed about 40 people. Only three years ago, in 2013, 9 people were fired at Kukes Airport for lack of funds. The airport was built with a $ 24 million gift from the United Arab Emirates after the Kosovo War, but flights are expected to start this year alone. The airport, before the fictitious employments, had only 11 employees, who were paid from the state budget. The 40 new employees were added, according to the investigative file, without being necessary, without any kind of study and moreover without even knowing what work they would do. Employees did not show up for a day at work, but received their pay regularly. According to the expertise carried out by order of the prosecutor Gjati, part of the file provided by Raport Tv, the damage to the state budget was about 500 thousand USD.
Behind the affair lies the SMI, the court accepts the arrest of the director
After the investigation, on July 25, 2017, the prosecutor Rita Gjati requested and received the approval of the court for the arrest of 2 former managers of the airport, namely Agron Xhafaj and former Arben Carkanji. The court also accepted the house arrest measure for the financier of this airport, Fahrudin Noka. The last director, Agron Xhafa, one of the protagonists of the fictitious employment affair, is considered a man of Ilir Meta and Monika Kryemadhi. Moreover, Ilir Meta included Agron Xhafa in the list of candidates of the Socialist Movement for Integration in Tirana during the 2017 parliamentary elections, exactly after the realization of fictitious employments. Agron Xhafajt and Arben Carkanji could not be found by the police to be arrested. The court then commuted the measure against them from arrest to forced appearance. This would be just the beginning of the decision-making until the final closure of the file.
Llalla takes revenge on Rita Gjati
Reliable sources for Report Tv confirm that prosecutor Rita Gjati has been under strong pressure to close this abuse file. The pressure has escalated because people affiliated with the Socialist Movement for Integration and its leaders, Ilir Meta and Monika Kryemadhi, were charged. When Rita Gjati, based on the expertise confirming the abuse, requested the arrest of two former directors of Kukes Airport and then took the file to court, Adriatik Llalla entered the game. On October 8, 2017, Adriatik Llalla, at that time Chief Prosecutor, signed the transfer of Rita Gjati from the Kukes Prosecutor’s Office to Tropoja, claiming to increase her performance after some problems were identified. But, as it seems, Llalla’s only problem was to remove from Rita Gjati the hands of the SMI abuse file at Kukës Airport and to hand it over to another prosecutor, to close it later. And so it happened.
Edmond Karriqi comes on stage, takes the file in his hand and pulls it
After Llalla punished Rita Gjati by transferring her to Tropoja from the head of the Kukes Prosecutor’s Office, the file of fictitious employments at the Kukes Airport was taken over by prosecutor Edmond Karriqi, who was arrested three days ago by the SPAK for corruption. One week later, on October 16, 2020, after only two court hearings, the new prosecutor in the case, Edmond Karriqi, withdrew the file from the Kukes court. Prosecutor Karriqi said that he withdrew the file to deepen the investigation, which could reveal other persons in this scandal, including maybe officials of the Directorate of Civil Aviation and why not of the Ministry of Transport, which was directed during the realization of employments by Sokol Dervishaj, representative of the SMI.
Edmond Karriqi closes the file
In November 2017, a few weeks after he withdrew the file from the court claiming that he would deepen the investigation to catch the ‘big fish’, the prosecutor Edmond Karriqi requested in the Court of Kukës to close without any defendant the file of fictitious employments in Kukës Airport, arguing that no ‘evidence’ was found for the abuse. Although the fictitious employments were proven beyond any reasonable doubt, with expertise, employment decisions, economic damage, money transfer to the account, payroll, etc., prosecutor Karriqi had not found any evidence.
Judge Isuf Shehu accepts the request
With this decision dated 12 December 2017, the judge of Kukës, Isuf Shehu accepted the request of the prosecutor Karriqi for the termination of the criminal proceeding no. 203 for fictitious employments at Kukës Airport by SMI people. The strange decision of the judge states that ‘the fact is not provided by law’ and that this issue is resolved administratively.
From all the acts in the investigation file, we reach the confusion that the actions and omissions of the defendants do not constitute a criminal offense of “Abuse of duty” provided by Article 248 of the Criminal Code, for the fact that the number of employees is determined. by the line ministry (on the proposal of the Civil Airport Board). Regarding whether or not he is at work near the Kukës airport, this is a legal relationship that is resolved administratively, through the provisions of the Labor Code of the Republic of Albania “, reasoned Isuf Shehu. Thus the file of about 500 thousand USD abuses was closed as an administrative matter.
Isuf Shehu is fired by Vetting, does not justify the 3-storey villa
On November 14, 2019, the Vetting Commission decided to dismiss Judge Isuf Shehu. Among other things, the dismissal decision states that the judge did not justify about 50 thousand USD for the construction of a three-storey villa in Kukës. The KPC also found financial impossibility from the judge to purchase two more cars. On the other hand, prosecutor Edmond Karriqi is in the process of verification since the end of 2019 by the Vetting Commission. But, Karriqi was handcuffed by the police in the middle of Kavaja, at the request of SPAK, for corruption.Shqiptarja.com)
