cAPITAL
Edi Rama's agenda has been packed with meetings in recent days, as the prime minister is said to have begun consultations on the new government. But among the many visits to the prime minister's office, there was a somewhat unusual one.
Two days ago, the media reported that former Kosovo President, businessman Behgjet Pacolli, also arrived urgently at the Prime Minister's Office. Although Pacolli's visit was reported to be related to political consultations, the Kosovo tycoon had another problem. Pacolli is being pressured to take over the Vlora airport by force.
Kapitali contacted Vlora International Airport about this issue, but the company refused to speak. However, Kapitali was able to obtain official documents that prove that the Vlora airport concession is under attack.
On August 21, the shareholders' meeting of Mabco Construction, which owns 98 percent of the shares of Vlora Airport, was held in Lugano, Switzerland. The agenda of the extraordinary meeting included only one completely unusual and very strange item.
"Today, on 21.08.2025, the company Mabco Constructions SA, a partner in the company "Vlora International Airport -VIA" sh.pk, decided to restrict any transfer of ownership (past, present or future) of the shares owned by Mabco in the share capital of VIA, until a second decision is made, and their registration with the National Business Center," the decision states.
Mabco's unusual decision
So the company has decided not to allow any sale of shares in the Vlora airport. This is like a citizen deciding to stop the sale of his house, when in fact the only person who can sell the house is the citizen himself.
What drives a company to make such a decision?
In fact, this is the defense that Pacolli is making himself from Switzerland for the pressures that are being put on him in Tirana to take over the airport. Or the exit from a potential non-public agreement. And the way the decision is formulated speaks of a sale of shares or agreements in the past. This raises other doubts.
International scandal
The serious scandal has now been internationalized. Kapitali has learned that the company has officially notified at least two embassies in Tirana that they are trying to seize their business. This was apparently the reason why Edi Rama urgently received Behgjet Pacolli in his office at the Prime Minister's Office.
In fact, Pacolli's reception at the prime minister's office is also unusual. Edi Rama prefers to resolve such major scandals privately, away from the public eye.
But this time, Edi Rama did not hold the meeting privately in one of his many government villas, but chose to hold the reception publicly at the Prime Minister's Office. And someone who is the greatest master of accounts in this country does nothing without a reason.
Did Mehmet do it with his own head?
The public reception of Pacolli as prime minister is in fact another message, through which Edi Rama is formally distancing himself from the scandal that is erupting. This endangers someone else; his deputy in the government, Belinda Balluku.
Mrs. Balluku is the head of the contracting authority for the Vlora airport concession. She, along with Edi Rama, are the only two people in Albania who have the power to snatch the business from Behgjet Pacolli. But as time has already shown on more than one occasion, when the corrupt intrigues of the government explode in public, there is always a scapegoat and the scapegoat is never Edi Rama.
Will the Vlora Airport scandal be the earthquake that will shake the positions of the most powerful minister in the government? That remains to be seen, but now Belinda Balluku is seriously in danger.
However, the Vlora Airport scandal has just erupted. More details will likely be released in the coming days. But all this proves a tragic truth. Albania has become a place where people and businesses are kidnapped in broad daylight. This is the main characteristic of a pure mafia state.
Editorial
