Albanian courts move in on Pandora Papers revelations

Albania’s specialised corruption prosecutors (SPAK) have launched investigations into €3.6 million in transactions made by the company that constructed the electricity interconnector to Kosovo, to a company based in the United Arab Emirates.

The Pandora Papers was a leak of millions of documents that laid bare offshore accounts worldwide. According to the leak, Bosnian company, Energoinvest paid the sum to the UAE consultancy company AL Energy Transition, owned by Albanian national Vasil Kallupi.

SPAK refused to give the media any further information on the investigation because it is ongoing.

While the transactions may not necessarily be illegal, the fact they are routed through an offshore jurisdiction gives rise to suspicion.

The company, founded in at the time in Yugoslavia, is known throughout the Balkans and has worked on numerous Albanian electricity projects. These include a line between Albania and Montenegro, one in the country’s south. In 2020, it won a contract to build one between Albania and North Macedonia, alongside Croatian company Koncar.

The UAE company that received the 39 payments totalling over €3.6 million lists Kallupi as CEO on its website, and the business plan names him as project manager. However, company documents list Jola Duro, a Tirana-based woman, as the ultimate beneficial owner.

Albania got another mention in the Pandora Papers as the Sandesara brothers, who received Albanian citizenship shortly after fleeing India facing a $2.1 billion fraud case, were revealed as owning a complex web of offshore companies.

Nitin Sandesara opened a string of six companies in the British Virgin Islands and other offshore jurisdictions.

A former executive for the Sandesara’s company, Deepak Barot, also has an Albanian company. Halcon Oil & Gas Limited was incorporated on 6 October 2020 with the involvement of a Nigerian law firm.

A former employee, chartered accountant Hemant Sanmukhrai Hathi said it was common for the family to set up accounts in the names of their inner circle and then use them to facilitate fraud and launder money.

Nitin and his brother Chetan have been under investigation since 2017 and were declared as wanted by the Indian authorities. Despite their fugitive status, they came to Albania and were granted citizenship by President Ilir Meta in 2018.

(Alice Taylor | Exit.al)