TIRANA, Dec. 19 – It was reported on Tuesday that journalist Ylli Rakipi received threatening messages after making public the forged documents that prove the massive scam surrounding the tender assigned for a part of the Great Ring project construction.
“Threats have been received in various forms. They were first done indirectly, via email, and then also straightforwardly. Regarding these threats, the journalist contacted the relevant authorities,” “the Unexposed” portal, run by Rakipi, writes.
Both the country’s President Ilir Meta and the opposition’s Democratic Party strongly condemned the threats.
Meta, who personally met Rakipi, called on all institutions to “investigate this case with the highest responsibility in order to give perpetrators the deserved punishment.”
“The threat towards Ylli Rakipi is not just a threat towards a journalist, but a threat to our entire society. When crime dares to identify a media person while the authors of the scandal itself have been identified, this can only mean one thing: crime feels superior to the state and justice,” the DP statement read.
News 24 show “the Unexposed” revealed two weeks back that US company Dunwell Haberman, through its branch DH Albania, falsified all the documents submitted to Albanian authorities regarding the Great Ring tender, which has now been cancelled.
Following, it also revealed that Dunwell Haberman was the winner of another recent government tender which, together with the Great Ring tender, reached a sum of almost 30 million euros.
During a subsequent show, Rakipi also reported that behind the entire scam and the offshore US company is Albanian oligarch Bashkim Ulaj – allegations also cast by other local media such as BIRN and Voice of America.
The facts mounting in favor of these allegations are numerous: only recently, DH Albania, previously registered in Vlora, moved its headquarters in one of the priciest Tirana buildings, the ABA Centre, built by Ulaj.
The official representative of DH Albania – a 26-year-old without previous experience in managing or construction – was also revealed to have family ties with Ulaj, while all the lawyers who filled up the company’s documents work in Ulaj’s company, Gener 2.
In addition, a BIRN article published on Monday revealed that a procedure on behalf of DH Albania was filled out by Gener 2 company’s lawyer.
Although officially established in July 2018, DH Albania managed to win two major tenders – part of the Great Ring road construction worth 18 million euros without VAT and the Durres-Peshkopi power line construction worth almost 12 million euros.
Official authorities and the Ministry of Energy and Industry Damian Gjiknuri sought to assign blame elsewhere, saying the company had submitted all the correct documents and that they did not have any indication to make them suspect verification was needed, despite the fact that the DH Albania representative was the 26-year-old Avdjol Dobi, without any prior experience in any of the areas his company specialized.
The prosecution has initiated investigations on the case, so far only seizing the relevant documents and waiting for the American authorities to prove the forgery.
