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The witness indicates that Ahmetaj was aware of the Buka Sh.a auction.
2026-05-26 19:29:43 / POLITIKË
Two witnesses called to be questioned regarding the 2015 privatization of a land plot at 1994 prices, a transaction for which former Deputy Prime Minister Arben Ahmetaj is accused of "abuse of office", answered questions on Tuesday from prosecutor Elvin Gokaj, lawyer Henrik Ligori and the landowner, Adrian Myderizi, who is participating in the trial in the capacity of the victim.
The criminal case concerns a 6,370-square-meter plot of land owned by the Myderizi family on 5 Maji Street in Tirana, which according to SPAK was privatized by Ahemtaj's illegal order using 1994 prices, contrary to a final court decision. Although Ahmetaj is being tried without security measures in this case, he is on the run on corruption charges related to incinerator businessmen Klodian Zoto and Mirel Mërtiri.
The former head of the Public Property Management Directorate at the Ministry of Finance in 2015, Endri Duçka, was the first witness to be questioned in Tuesday's session regarding the auction procedure announced by Ahemtaj in 2014 for the sale of state shares of the company Buka sh.a., which were then purchased by the main private shareholder, Lirim Fezollari.
Duçka stated that the office he headed was the final link, as the privatization was initially approved by the minister, evaluated by another structure and finally reached the Directorate of Public Property Management. “We had the task of verifying whether all the acts were in the file and then the auction would begin,” Duçka said.
He stated that anyone could participate in the auction to place a bid. According to Duçka, his office had not been part of the privatization, but only of the auction, sale procedure. He insisted that the office he headed could only carry out procedures for state properties and that the company “Buka” jsc. had 51% of the state shares at that time.
Regarding a request by the Myderrizi family to cancel the auction, Duçka stated that the procedure he had conducted had nothing to do with their search. Regarding an order to annul the auction procedure, which also included Duçka's signature, the latter explained that it was carried out due to a court decision, but long after the auction procedure had been completed and could not have any effect. "The court decision suspended the auction in 2018, when the auction was carried out in 2015," said Duçka, describing the procedure as completed at the time the court decision was issued.
Duçka admitted that he was aware of the order from Ahemtaj's minister to put the company up for auction. "I was aware that I could not act without the order," he declared.
The witness explained that only one bidder had entered the auction procedure and that for this reason they had postponed the deadline in order for other interested parties to participate, but again there were no additional bidders.
Ahmetaj's defense attorney, lawyer Henrik Ligori, asked Duçka who his superior was when he worked at the Ministry of Finance. The witness replied that he did not report to Ahemtaj, but to former minister Shkelqim Cani. He said that there was no interference from Ahmetaj in the auction procedure.
Asked by Myderrizi about the Appeals Court decision that banned the privatization of the property, Duçka said that this had nothing to do with the procedure he followed. The witness stated that the auction procedure was not kept secret, as they had an interest in having as many participants as possible.
He said that he had recognized the winner of the auction, businessman Lirim Fezollari, during the proceedings. But according to the witness, there was no interference of any kind.
Lawyer Ligori objected to some of the questions directed by prosecutor Gokaj and victim Adrian Myderizi, describing them as outside the scope of the case. Ligori noted that the witness was being asked about an Appeal decision that was overturned by the Supreme Court. According to him, there is currently no court decision that would contradict Minister Ahmetaj's order. However, the court allowed most of the questions.
The other witness, Fatmir Hoxhaj, an official of the legal department at the Ministry of Finance during the period when the auction took place, stated that he had no connection with this procedure.
At the next session scheduled for June 9, at 10:00, it was decided to call as witnesses the former Secretaries General of the Ministry of Finance, Geraldina Prodani and Frederik Seitaj./BIRN
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