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Balluk's scheme revealed: the company with two balance sheets that hid the millions from the Llogara Tunnel
2025-11-07 22:28:48 / AKTUALITET
A week ago, the Special Prosecution Office against Corruption and Organized Crime (SPAK) announced that it had indicted the Minister of Infrastructure and Energy, Belinda Balluku, for the criminal offense of "violation of equality in tenders", in connection with the construction procedure of the Llogara Tunnel.
But what do we know specifically about this affair?
According to official documents, on December 14, 2020, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy opened the competition for the construction of the tunnel with a limit fund of 19.1 billion lek excluding VAT (about 23 billion with VAT). After the cancellation, the tender was reopened in June 2021 and the Turkish consortium INTEKAR-ASL was declared the winner with a bid of 17 billion lek, nearly 10 million euros more than another lower bid.
However, as documented in the SPAK report, the works were carried out and managed on site by Gjoka Konstruksion, the company that had offered the lowest price in the first competition.
Balance sheets submitted to the National Business Center show that INTEKAR-ASL declared, from 2021 to 2024, revenues of 16.5 billion lek and profits of 2.77 billion lek.
But according to State Treasury data, the actual payments received by the company are higher — 19.4 billion lek in total — resulting in 1.1 billion lek undeclared (about 11 million euros), for which no profit tax was paid.
These figures are contrary to data published by the Treasury, which shows that the company has collected more funds than it has officially declared in the balance sheet.
According to a study by the Slovak company DUHA, originally contracted when the project was envisaged as a PPP, the real cost of building the tunnel was 113 million euros, or 127 million euros if the emergency gallery was included.
However, the public tender was opened with a limit fund of 190 million euros, i.e. 63 million euros more than the real projected cost.
This change is also documented in the State Audit Office's 2021 Budget Report, which states that the project was initially estimated at 12.1 billion lek (about 120 million euros), but was later opened with a limit fund of 22.7 billion lek including VAT. Another important element: the technical project of the tunnel was submitted on March 20, 2021, three and a half months after the opening of the first tender.
According to SPAK, the tender estimate was calculated on a draft idea, not on the final project, which has contributed to the inflated cost.
The Ministry paid 7 million euros to the Austrian company IC Consulenten and its partners to design this project.
However, the submitted project does not match the completed works, as the planned bridge at the exit of the tunnel, which appeared in the Austrian model, was not built.
At this point, all data from balance sheets, Treasury reports, tender documents and technical studies show that the procedure for the Llogara Tunnel was predetermined and with artificially inflated costs. SPAK has already taken action against Minister Balluku, but it remains to be seen whether the investigation will go deeper into those who prepared the project, signed the estimates and approved the budget supplements.
In the end, this is one of the biggest affairs that has shaken the Albanian government:
a tunnel that was supposed to cost 127 million euros, but ended up costing the state 190 million euros — and which today remains a symbol of how public money can be diverted through formally legal procedures./ Piranjat
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