TIRANA, Dec. 11 – After US authorities confirmed that Dunwell Haberman, the US offshore company that won two major government tenders in Albania for a total price of almost 30 million euros, had indeed forged documents regarding its activity, government representatives have sought to assign the blame for the scandal to low-rank officials and others involved.
Minister of Energy and Industry Damian Gjiknuri said he considers the fraud and forgeries of Dunwell Haberman and its branch DH Albania as criminal offenses, and said he is open that his work as minister be investigated any time.
As the opposition is heavily accusing the government of backing up the offshore company and its illegal activity in Albania for its own gain, Gjiknuri said only the US authorities’ penal investigation will help solve the issue.
“I declare with full responsibility that I have not had any connection and I have no knowledge of the company’s criminal activity. I’m open to investigation. The US has launched a criminal investigation, we await the results of US investigations to know who are the real shareholders and their ties to other people. The Great Ring project will continue,the other two parts of the road are being constructed,” the minister said.
Meanwhile, the opposition’s Democratic Party has accused Gjiknuri, as well as the state institutions responsible for the projects, that they have been used by Prime Minister Edi Rama as servants to launder 30 million euros.
“Now that they were caught stealing, they have chosen it is better to look stupid, than to show their face for what they truly are: average and unscrupulous thieves,” DP MP Agron Shehaj told local media.
The country’s opposition has highlighted the oddity surrounding the Dunwell Haberman scandal, especially since it was revealed it has won not one, but two government tenders while its Albanian branch is directed by 26-year-old Avdjol Dobi who has no previous experience in any of the relevant fields.
“Damian Gjiknuri claimed today that the Albanian Road Authority and himself have negotiated and signed an 18 million euro contract without meeting anyone else but the fake 26-year-old administrator, who has no clue about public work or contracts, and this raised absolutely no doubts? Gjiknuri also claimed that he and the Transmission System Operator have negotiated and signed another 12 million euro contract with the same 26-year-old amateur and they still didn’t doubt and understand something?,” Shehaj further said.
“What kind of ministries and institutions are these? State institutions or street stands? Indeed, Gjiknuri and the two heads of the ARA and the TSO are simply servants used by Edi Rama to launder 30 million euro,” Shehaj concluded.
Only active in Albania since July 2018 through its branch DH Albania, it remains unclear how the offshore company that has forged US documents and signatures managed to win two government tenders with a total value of almost 30 million euros.
Although the prosecution has began its own investigations, local media reported it is investigating the notary public who signed the documents, instead of conducting investigations on the circumstances that allowed an offshore company run by an inexperienced 26-year-old and founded in July 2018 win two government tenders.
