Author: Denis Tahiri
Over the course of a decade, from 2010 to the end of 2021, Albania lost 160 million euros in arbitration, which if not paid at the expense of every Albanian, the debt will grow exponentially. Calculated with an amount of 16 million euros "fine" for each year, Albania was penalized with salty invoices for breaking contracts with various companies, which were contracted to invest in roads or ports. The decisions given by the international courts include staggering amounts, while the Albanian institutions, even though they invoiced 118,776,781 euros, paid only 2,986,584 euros, most of which are expenses incurred for legal consultancy and court bills. On the other hand, the figure that has to be settled to the winners of the trials continues to increase with the passing of days.
"Tirana-Elbasan" road 45 million euros fine
It is certain that this axis has cost the Albanians very dearly. In January 2019 Prime Minister Edi Rama during an inspection carried out on the road "Tirana-Elbasan" accused: "The beginning without a project, without a geological study, without any kind of security, just ISO, let's open the tunnel for the electoral campaign and then a big deal about what happens behind and we paid twice".
This road is included in the list of salty investments, not only for the cost of works and contract additions, but also in its judicial aspect. For this road, the initial procurement was 83 million dollars, but at the end of it, it was declared that it cost the Albanians a full 152 million dollars. But what was never said publicly by the government is the fact that this road has cost Albanian taxpayers more than 200 million dollars. Albanians must also pay 45 million euros to the companies involved in the destruction of this road due to winning the Arbitration court. The Arbitration decision forces the Albanian government to pay the injured parties a figure of more than 45 million euros. The only penalty that has been invoiced, but has not yet been paid, is the one that the Albanian state owes to SAFA Sh.pk with a value of 3.543.337,88 euros, of which more than 1 million euros are interest for non-implementation at the time of the decision, which had an initial value of 2.495.166 euros. Meanwhile, for the "Tirana-Elbasan" road, Albania has also lost the trial against "Copri Construction Enterprises WLL & Aktor SA" for the conflict of works where the court has asked the Albanian party to pay this company 38,079,336 euros. But this obligation has not been invoiced nor paid. Meanwhile, the amount that the Albanian state will pay to these companies already exceeds 45 million euros and will continue to increase for every day that the decision is not implemented. On this issue, accusations were exchanged by the Socialist and Democratic parties, forcing the Ministry of Infrastructure to come out with an official statement insisting that corruption had been committed by the former democratic government. "The contract for the construction of the "Tirana-Elbasan" road was signed in 2012, when the Democratic Party was in government, which today attacks forgetting that it signed this contract without a geological study and with dozens of changes according to the contractor's requirements and of course with the help of corrupt officials, this contract has been crookedly initiated from the beginning, precisely by the Democratic Party. The baton was then taken by the Ministers of Transport and the directors appointed by LSI, to finally make this contract an affair, in pure disfavor for the Albanian State". are said, among other things, in the MIE statement. But even though there were some arrests after a criminal complaint was made, they never went to high levels.
The road to Gjirokastra, a road lost in arbitration
But this is not the first punishment against Albania. Also, the Albanian state owes 4.214.402 Euros to the company "J&P AVAX" as a result of the conflict between the company and the former Ministry of Public Works, Transport and Telecom (today MIE). The conflict was related to the construction of the road segment "Gjirokastër-Tepelënë", part of the North-South corridor, but which could not be resolved between the parties, ending in Arbitration. The cost was still not small for our country.
Becchetti, the 108 million euro 'bomb'
The "Becchetti" case is undoubtedly the most well-known case of the last 10 years in International Arbitration for Albania. The public debate on this matter became greater with the release of the arbitration decision which punished Albania with a figure of 108 million euros, but the head of the government would declare that the process is not closed. Prime Minister Edi Rama, during the electoral campaign for the April 25 elections, accused Becchetti of being a "stuntman", and said that at the end of the process, Becchetti will not receive anything from Albania.
In an official document made available to "Sinjalizo", it appears that the penalty of 108 million euros was invoiced by the Ministry of Finance. However, not a single cent has been paid to the Italian businessman yet. This delay means that the obligation of the Albanian state towards Becchetti continues to increase based on the interest ordered by the court. So the Albanian state has spent about 4 million euros in this case for legal protection.
Salty bills to protect the interest of the state, but the loss is certain
The Ministry of Finance announces that for a commitment contract for the provision of legal Services, dated 05.04.2018, for the protection and representation in the ICSID Arbitration process ARB/17/6 (for the Becchetti case), a total of 2.000.000 euros have been paid, from to which 1 million euros were invoiced and paid. Also, the legal costs related to the CSID Arbitration decision no.ARB/15/28 "Hydro and others against Albania" (Becchetti case) have reached a figure of 902,201 euros, while 875,201 thousand euros have been invoiced and paid. The businessman's claims of undermining government investments were presented in the Arbitration, including tax audits, money laundering investigations, blocking and seizing of bank accounts and assets, as well as arrest warrants against the individuals who brought this claim to the arbitration. Although about 3 million euros were spent on legal consultancy and representation costs, Albania again failed to convince the judges to reject the claims of the Italian businessman with evidence. Meanwhile, in April 2021, the decision was also given to reject Albania's request to reject the decision, giving Becchetti 110 million euros. On January 27, 2021, the Italian businessman Becchetti would request in The Hague to take ownership of the part of the shares that the Albanian state has in the contract signed with the Shell company to explore for natural gas and oil in Albania. But the decision given by the court rejected this request of Becchetti, while the Albanian state, even though it was called as a party to the trial, did not appear before the court.
Port of Karpen and the company that won 500 thousand euros
WHEREAS the port of Karpen in Kavajë, it was presented as a mega-investment that would open thousands of jobs in Albania, it turned out to be only a loss of 500 thousand euros for the Albanians. The Albanian state entered into negotiations with "Star Bridge Port Developments Limited", an entity registered in England and Wales with a capital of 100 pounds, which was expected to make the investment of 5 billion dollars. And while the value of the investment was not guaranteed, even if the negotiations had been successful, the expropriations in the area alone were expected to have a cost of over 700 million euros.
And while the project did not go ahead, the case went to Arbitration, where the initial obligation for Albania was 500 thousand euros, of which 264.914 euros were invoiced, of which 232.457 euros were paid. The Albanian state has another obligation of 250 euros to "Tirana International Airport". The obligation invoiced and paid by the Albanian state so far is 150 thousand euros, while another 100 thousand remain to be paid.
Another trial in these 11 years, which has had costs for Albania, is that of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development against the company "Valeria Italia srl". Only the expenses for the lawyers for this court process who have defended the Albanian state were 750.000 euros, while the initial cost was 19.500 euros. But even though the lawyers were paid 750 thousand euros, the case was resolved with understanding between the parties, causing the Albanian state to pay an amount of 150 thousand euros as administrative costs to the court.
Also, our country has spent 1,269,033-euro as the cost of the law firm for the annulment of the ICSID decision for "Albaniabeg Ambient SHPK", Angelo Noveli, Construzioni SRL against Albania. Currently, the Albanian state has invoiced 337,661 euros and has paid the same amount.
