The High Court has rejected the request of the construction company "Agi Kons", owned by businessman Gentian Sula, which sought the lifting of the seizure of an apartment in the "Kodra e Diellit" area in Tirana, which the prosecution suspects is hidden property of the arrested mayor, Erion Veliaj.
The Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court announced this Thursday (January 22, 2026), that it has decided to "dismiss the appeal of the Agi Kons company for the annulment of the decision of the Special Court of Appeal, no. 38, dated June 17, 2025".
"Boldnews.al" verified the Appeals Court's decision on this case and found that it concerned the seizure of an apartment in the "Kodra e Diellit" area, one floor above the official apartment of the spouses Erion Veliaj and Ajola Xoxa.
In its request, "Agi Kons" shpk claims that the apartment is owned by it, as the builder of the entire residential complex, and that Veliaj and his wife, Xoxa, have no real or proprietary rights over that property.
However, the Special Prosecution Office has raised reasonable suspicions that the apartment is "de facto" owned by the Veliaj-Xoxa duo. According to SPAK, it is a hidden asset and is suspected to be the product of a corrupt relationship between Veliaj and entrepreneur Gent Sula.
The “hidden” apartment
As part of the investigations into "corruption" and "money laundering", the Special Prosecution Office said it has uncovered a case where Sula, according to the investigative group, attempted to cover up a hidden asset belonging to Erion Veliaj, an apartment in the "Kodra e Diellit" complex in Tirana, built by his company, "Agikons".
Erion Veliaj and his family live on the fourth floor of a 5-story building in the residential area of Selita in the capital. This apartment was purchased years ago by Arben and Valbona Xoxa and later donated to their daughter, Ajola Xoxa.
For years, this has been the official apartment of the Xoxe-Veliaj couple, also declared on the asset forms with the High Inspectorate for Declaration and Control of Assets and Conflict of Interest (HIDAKPKI).
However, the investigations of the Special Prosecution Office have raised suspicions that the "first couple" of Tirana also has a hidden asset, an apartment on the fifth floor of the building where they live, exactly above their own residence.
In the apartment that is suspected of being hidden by Veliaj, a close friend of the mayor's family, the actor of the "Portokalli" cabaret, Gazmend Paja, lived from 2011 to 2019.
When questioned by the investigative group, Paja stated that he left that apartment in 2019, after, in agreement with the builder Gentian Sula, he decided to replace it with another, larger apartment, due to family needs.
After 2019, and specifically around 2020-2021, SPAK has identified numerous communications between Ajola Xoxe and various individuals regarding the reconstruction and furnishing of the apartment left empty by Gazmend Paja.
Thanks to these communications and details discovered during the investigation, the Special Prosecution Office has created reasonable suspicions that the family of the mayor of Tirana is the real owner of that apartment, although formally, it appears registered as owned by "AgiKons" of the builder Gentian Sula.
Attempt to cover up the apartment
Based on information about a hidden apartment belonging to Veliaj, on April 14, 2025, the Special Prosecution Office conducted a search of the apartment on the fifth floor of the building where the mayor lives.
The apartment turned out to have been rented to a person, RC. The tenant stated that he has been living in that apartment since September 2024. He told the investigation team that he had found this apartment in the advertisements of the real estate agency “Future Home”. RC also says that, at the time he saw this apartment, in August of last year, refinishing works were being carried out there, such as painting, changing the plumbing and furniture.
The rental contract, through the real estate agency, turns out to have been signed between RC and the company "AgiKons". However, the Special Prosecution Office suspects that Gentian Sula's construction company was involved in this contract, with the aim of hiding the real ownership of the apartment.
Excerpts from the investigative file on the suspicious actions of builder Gentian Sula
"...For the proceeding body, the conviction is created that citizen Gentian Sula, representative of 'Agikon', by actively simulating a rental relationship, through renting the object to an agency and further in signing the rental contract dated September 18, 2024 (with citizen RC), has committed objective actions, which have aimed to justify the irregular benefit that the Veliaj-Xoxa spouses have received due to Erion Veliaj's function as mayor," it is stated in the material of the closure of the investigations of the Special Prosecution.
Further, SPAK states: "This irregular benefit (of the Veliaj-Xoxe couple)... stems from a long-standing relationship of a corrupt nature, conditioned by the ongoing relations of citizen Gentian Sula (representative of "AgiKons") with the Municipality of Tirana...".
The closet revealed the apartment
The Special Prosecution Office says that the starting point for the discovery of an apartment hidden by Erion Veliaj, one floor above his official residence in the 'Sun Hill' area, was a closet.
As part of the investigations into the arrested mayor of Tirana and his wife, Ajola Xoxe, for criminal offenses of corruption and money laundering, prosecutors have administered the data of a furniture maker, Arlind Kodra.
The latter kept on his computer the data on the works he carried out on behalf of Ajola Xoxe at her house in Kodra e Diellit, as well as at a villa in Qerret.
Among the computer data, prosecutors identified information marked with the designation "upstairs." The furniture maker was asked about this information and stated that in 2021 he was accompanied by Ajola to an apartment located above her existing house, where he took measures to create several closets.
He stated that he only built a closet for this apartment. The Special Prosecution, based on this information, as well as other indirect data, conducted a search of this apartment, which is located on the fifth floor, precisely the apartment where Ajola Xoxe and Erion Veliaj live.
On April 14, 2025, agents of the National Bureau of Investigation conducted a search of the apartment above Erion Veliaj's official residence.
The photos taken by the agents of the Bureau of Investigation during the search of this apartment were presented to the furniture maker Arlind Kodra. The latter stated that the closet found in the rented house was exactly the one he had made earlier, after talking to Ajola Xoxen.
Based on this information, prosecutors returned to the telephone communications they had previously seized from the persons under investigation.
In those communications, they discovered messages exchanged between Ajola and architect Olsi Eftimi, a family friend and at the same time the person who contributed to the furnishing of the Xoxe-Veliaj family's apartments in Tirana and Qerret.
Those communications revealed conversations that were specifically related to the apartment above Ajola and Veliaj's apartment. They discussed the possibility of creating internal stairs that would connect the two apartments and other technical details.
Architect Olsi Eftimi admitted to prosecutors that he went to that apartment, but only to make some repairs, as water was dripping on the ceiling of Ajola's house. However, the Special Prosecution Office states that there is much other evidence, which has led to the conviction that that apartment is a hidden asset of Erion Veliaj and Ajola Xoxa.
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