Elira Kokona was an unknown name, not only to the general public, but also to the Socialists themselves before the latter came to power in 2013. But Ms. Kokona had the great fortune of being in the circle of Engjëll Agaç. This connection was the key that opened the doors of Kokona's ever-rising career, all the way to the heights of power in Rilindja.
Initially, Kokona was appointed as Secretary General of the Ministry of Culture under Kumbaro. She then moved to the Ministry of Justice and then Deputy Secretary General of the Prime Minister's Office. But the irony was that while she was serving as a senior public official, Ms. Kokona continued her work as a lawyer representing private parties against the Albanian state in international courts. However, Albania has seen worse than that.
Kokona's actions against the public interest would be further aggravated when she was catapulted to the top of the Albanian Investment Corporation. Conceived on paper as an entity that would promote the country's economic development, the Investment Corporation quickly took on the face of its leader, transforming into a swindler's office that trades public interest on private exchanges.
From coastal properties to Tirana towers, KISH was transformed into a real estate agency, which has no connection to the public interest. Today, the Corporation does not have a single project of its own to be proud of, but it has many feats of which it should be ashamed. Durana is one of them.
In 2022, after Russia militarily attacked Ukraine, one of the world's largest software companies, the American company Epam, approached the Albanian government with a concrete project. Due to the uncertainty, EPAM had decided to relocate thousands of employees of its branch in Ukraine to another country. The executives of the American giant had selected Albania as the most preferred option.
The head of EPAM has met personally with Edi Rama more than once on this issue. This was the starting point of the law on Technological and Scientific Parks. More specifically, this was the reason why Durana was born.
But time passed and the dummy vegetated. For three years, the Corporation failed to lay a single brick for the construction of the Durana park. Mrs. Kokona did not decide either to build the park with a private developer, or to build it with public funds. As a result, EPAM issued an ultimatum to the Albanian government; either build the park or we will choose another place.
Faced with this ultimatum, Kokona found the magic solution. He turned Durana into an imaginary park. So a park without borders, without buildings, but simply a virtual space like the king's clothes. This was the joke that finally decided the abandonment of Albania by Epam and this was one of the greatest damages that has been done to Albania in recent years by the bureaucratic dummies, who are both ignorant and greedy.
Imagine for a moment what Albania would be like if thousands of EPAM employees had come to Xhafzotaj. Just for the record. EPAM generates $5 billion in annual revenue and has over 65,000 employees.
But this is not a one-off. Companies of this size are like magnets that attract each other. Perhaps today in Durrës there could be Amazon or other technology titans. Instead, Kokona made Albania a virtual tax-free cave for the thieves of the AKSHI.
Editorial
