An article by the Kosovar portal Paparaci , widely published in Albanian media, has reignited the conflict over Vlora Airport. In the article published the day before, Paparaci casts doubt that the loan received by Behgjet Pacolli's Mabco from the Delphos fund is linked to funds that manage Russian debt.
But after this article, the Mabco company immediately responded. Through an official press release, Mabco refutes the accusations of Russian connections, also distributing a reaction from Delphos, requested by Pacolli's company itself.
The Luxembourg-based fund has denied that the loan originated from Russian citizens or persons associated with Russia, adding that the loan was executed and supervised by Euroclear Bank and Clearstream Banking, two internationally recognized European systems that are subject to strict European Union rules.
According to Delphos, no person or entity subject to EU, US, UK or Swiss sanctions is permitted to hold accounts or conduct transactions through Euroclear and Clerastream, and all participants are continuously screened against the relevant sanctions lists.
"Therefore, the funds provided in advance under this instrument do not originate from and are in no way linked to the Russian Federation, any entity controlled by Russia, or any person or entity subject to sanctions imposed by the European Union, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Switzerland or any other relevant sanctions authority," Delphos says in the response distributed by Mabco.
Delphos' statement requested by Mabco
The Luxembourg fund says that due to contractual reasons it cannot make public the names of the investors who provided the funds for the loan, but assures that they have no connection to Russia.
"For contractual confidentiality reasons, we are unable to disclose the identity of the Bondholders. However, we can confirm that the purchasers of the Bonds are located in the European Union and/or the United States of America," Delphos' letter states.
On the other hand, Mabco itself claims that these publications are orchestrated with the aim of influencing the ongoing legal process regarding the share conflict.
"As the next court decisions approach, including the appellate review of the cases initiated by MABCO, the more efforts are being made to construct unfounded narratives aimed at influencing public perception," Mabco says in the statement.
In parallel, she has also forwarded an opinion requested by the international auditing company BDO, where the latter says that so far Vlora Airport is not part of Delphos' loan, but admits that it could be if the concessionaire company signs the acceptance letter as an additional borrower, as provided for in the loan contract between Delphos and Mabco.
Editorial
