On May 8th of last year, Behgjet Pacolli landed on the runway of Vlora Airport in a chartered Embraer ERJ 145 rented from Travelcoup. Albania was just 3 days away from general elections, which would determine the governing majority for the next four years, and this was the flight, which government propaganda sold as the inauguration of Vlora Airport.
To celebrate the historic event, the two most important people in the government, Prime Minister Edi Rama and his deputy Belinda Balluku, had gone to Vlora. Behgjet Pacolli initially showered Edi Rama with praise, but he did not spare praise for Belinda Balluku either. Only 3 days before the elections.
"Imagine, this lady has called our suppliers so many times, that even I don't know those people. She found them, called them, told them what to do. And they called me, they said, "Xhoni, what's going on?", today the Deputy Prime Minister of Albania called us. So this is only because of the great desire for the country, the love for the work," said Pacolli, as those present, but above all Rama and Balluku, smiled ear to ear.
But it wasn't long before Behgjet Pacolli, or Xhoni as he calls himself in the West, moved from honey to poison. When the conflict erupted between him and fellow shareholder Valon Ademi, Pacolli appeared on Opinion where he declared that Belinda Balluku had imposed the Turks of Yda Group as shareholders in Vlora airport.
"During the meeting with Balluk, I understand that the minister proposed to him (the Turk from YDA) to participate in this investment," Pacolli said in an interview with Opinion.
This statement is in fact a self-incrimination that makes Pacolli a direct accomplice in the crime. According to his own words, the entire tender for the concession of Vlora Airport was manipulated and the winners of the contract were predetermined in Balluk's office.
But this declaration was only the beginning of a curtain call, which would later be followed by another game. Recently, Behgjet Pacolli has been sponsoring a large media campaign, where he is pushing the thesis that the Vlora airport is a corrupt affair of Belinda Balluku and that the 47 percent of the shares demanded by the minority partner, Ademi, are in fact Belinda Balluku's shares. He is doing this behind the scenes through several PR agencies.
But the new thesis that Pacolli is presenting to the public raises a fundamental question. When did he learn that half of the airport shares belonged to Balluk?
Bribes are usually agreed upon before the tender is awarded. If the shares belong to Balluk, as Pacolli now says behind the scenes, or to Balluk and Rama, as he once said at the tables, then Behgjet Pacolli has accepted this corrupt bargain since the day he received the airport concession. This makes him a co-author in the crime.
Of course, all of these are accusations that will have to be verified by the prosecution. But Pacolli's frequent changes in positions regarding the Vlora airport raise a great doubt. This is arbitration.
Is the game that Pacolli is playing with the Vlora airport, preparing the ground for arbitration? This would not be so impossible considering Mr. Pacolli's past records, where he even took money from Kosovo in arbitration.
Because there are currently two things in the public eye. Pacolli has received a 100 million euro loan in a dubious deal with a shell company in Luxembourg and is publicly accusing the shares of being determined in Balluk's office. One thing is certain here: this is not a battle for morality, nor for justice.
If what Pacolli says is true, then he has signed contracts on a project that was corrupt, received financing on lies and exposed Albania to an international scandal. If they are untrue, then a crisis is being deliberately created to activate the credit mechanisms with Delphos, which would lead the Vlora airport into unknown hands and expose Albania to great financial risks.
When the main shareholder of a strategic project comes out and publicly throws mud at it, it stinks a lot. Therefore, all this raises suspicions of a dirty financial game with other goals behind it. Because in every case, Pacolli always ends up with 100 million euros in his pocket. While the Albanians get the rest of his bargains.
Editorial
