Democratic Party MP Bujar Leskaj has described the company “KAYO” as the latest product of Prime Minister Edi Rama’s corruption, stressing that he has turned it into an ATM for his political clientele.
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In a reaction on social media, he said that contracts had been signed in the name of national security without genuine competition, with companies having direct political ties, thereby creating an organized scheme of theft.
“Under the banner of ‘military secrecy,’ KAYO has been turned into an ATM for Rama’s political clientele and his sect, where tenders are distributed, prices are inflated and quality is sacrificed,” he wrote.
According to him, although Albania is a NATO member, it is being turned into a banana republic by the “shoddy ‘military products’ of Timak Defense and KAYO’s corruption with the Israeli private company ‘ES.’”
He added that the allies demand transparency, integrity and accountability, while the government offers only silence and a fog of uncertainty.
“What message are we sending to our strategic partners when military equipment may prove to lack the minimum standards for protecting NATO personnel, be worn out, covered by inflated contracts and involve untouchable officials?” he added.
FULL STATEMENT:
Rama’s deception and KAYO’s corruption
In October 1978, the Mechanical Tractor Plant in Tirana produced the first Albanian DT-54 tractor, based on the Chinese model of tracked tractors of that era. In practice, it assembled all the parts of the Chinese tractor, which had arrived from that distant state. Communist propaganda presented it as a genuinely produced tractor, in order to show the world that small Albania knew how to achieve great things. In fact, the dictatorship’s Prime Minister Mehmet Shehu himself drove the tractor assembled at the plant in Tirana for a few meters.
Commercial vehicles painted with military paint and fitted with additional window grilles
Almost 48 years later, on July 31, 2026, Rama inaugurated with great pomp and declared a “historic day” for the army what was an ugly and shameless deception.
He declared and sold as “military vehicles meeting NATO standards” the 37 military vehicles called “Ujku” and the three dump trucks called “Shkëmbi,” supposedly manufactured by the company “Timak Defense,” a structure 20 percent owned by our army’s corrupt KAYO and 80 percent owned by the private company “Timak,” which assembles aluminum parts on commercial vehicles.
Albanian citizens should know that NATO’s minimum standard, “STANAG 4569,” Level 1, provides protection against small-arms fire, small-caliber bullets, hand grenades and fragments from unexploded shells.
All 37 “Ujku” vehicles that “Timak Defense” sold to the Albanian army in July 2026 are commercial “Toyota LandCruiser 76” off-road vehicles, painted with military paint and fitted with additional window grilles.
The Toyotas purchased by the Albanian army from Timak provide no protection against any type of firearm—not even the lightest weapons or the smallest calibers. Contrary to Rama’s lies and deception, the “Ujku” vehicles do not meet even NATO’s lowest standard in terms of protecting personnel.
These vehicles could be adapted to provide personnel protection and even reach Level 1 of the NATO standard, STANAG 4569, but this would require them to be modified with bulletproof windows and armored bodywork. Timak has not made such modifications.
What it has added to the Toyota vehicles is the typical military camouflage paint, to give them a military appearance; metal grilles mounted on the side windows; and a rack or rail on their roofs for carrying equipment. It has also replaced the Toyota logo with the Timak Defense logo.
We do not know how much the purchase of a commercial off-road vehicle, with the above-mentioned shoddy additions, has cost the state budget compared with the market price of Toyota LandCruiser 76 vehicles.
And Rama is selling these “essential additions” as the production of military vehicles for the Albanian army! At least Mehmet Shehu assembled the Chinese DT-54 tractor entirely at the Tractor Plant! In this barren propaganda, the dictator’s prime minister was more original than our current prime minister!
KAYO: a dangerous corrupt structure headed by a shadowy figure
The military structure KAYO, the latest product of Rama’s innovative corruption, manages the procurement, maintenance and logistics of the country’s military equipment, including weapons, vehicles, ammunition and military services.
This makes it one of the most critical nodes in our defense system. Any deviation from the law within this structure undermines the army’s combat readiness, the safety of military personnel and Albania’s credibility with NATO.
The autocrat Rama, together with the shadowy figure Ard Veliu, who has a negative record and extremely poor performance indicators at the head of our police, has found “an opportunity to make a mess” in our defense and military industry.
In July 2025, Albania signed a broad military agreement with Israel. For many months, this signing was viewed simply as a normal agreement between two governments to cooperate in the field of defense. Only at the beginning of this year was it revealed that the agreement was not an agreement between the two governments, but a secret, multimillion-dollar business deal between KAYO and the Israeli private company “ES.” They are being investigated by NATO over rigged tenders.
This business combines Rama’s delusions of grandeur as a “Global Leader” with the rampant corruption of his sect, through Ard Veliu and KAYO, as well as a pronounced lack of experience in this field.
Media reports have raised serious questions about predetermined tenders, in which the winners appear to be known before the procedures are opened; the overvaluation of military equipment, often of low quality; closed agreements without transparency under the justification of “military secrecy”; and an open conflict of interest between KAYO officials and foreign private supply companies, such as “ES.”
Foreign and domestic media sources say that the Albanian government is considering a scheme similar to that of the “Smart City” project to finance the heavy bill Albania will pay to the foreign private company. According to these sources, the foreign company would find the funds itself through bank loans, while Albania would guarantee the company’s loan with a state sovereign guarantee. It would then assume responsibility for repaying it, including substantial interest, for a company that is currently being investigated by NATO for corruption involving NATO’s own tender agency.
Rama’s dealings with Albania’s defense sector do not involve only the Israeli private company “ES.” Rama also has another military “godfather,” the Albanian-Israeli entrepreneur Ron Yeffet.
The businessman of Israeli origin, with companies established in Albania with capital of 100 lekë, on June 17, 2025—just six days after the Rama sect, through Council of Ministers Decision No. 322, opened the way for KAYO to cooperate with private companies in the military industry—bought 49 percent of “TIMAK” that same day. During 2024, the company had declared a turnover of approximately 518 million lekë and pre-tax profit of 135.8 million lekë, yet the 49 percent stake was purchased for just 49,000 lekë. On the same day, he also bought 49 percent of “TIMAK Special Vehicles,” again for 49,000 lekë, even though the company had generated approximately 151.6 million lekë in turnover during 2024. Immediately afterward, our state reduced its stake in the joint company “TIMAK Defense” from 45 percent to 20 percent, and KAYO paid 2.58 billion lekë, or 29 million euros, to “TIMAK Defence.”
These dark practices by Veliu and his associates, with Rama’s blessing, constitute not only legal violations but institutional betrayal of our army’s mission! Corruption in the military is measured not only by tens of millions of euros lost, but also by nonfunctional equipment in emergency situations, shortages of ammunition or logistics at critical moments, declining morale among personnel and a loss of trust among our strategic allies.
III. KAYO: Rama’s ATM and a disgrace to our state!
If corruption in roads, schools or hospitals is a crime against citizens, corruption in the army is a crime against the state itself. In the name of national security, contracts have been signed without genuine competition, with companies that have direct political ties. This is not mismanagement, but an organized scheme of theft.
Under the banner of “military secrecy,” KAYO has been turned into an ATM for Rama’s political clientele and his sect, where tenders are distributed, prices are inflated and quality is sacrificed.
Military secrecy is not a license for corruption! It cannot be used to silence the media and public opinion, avoid audits and conceal questionable contracts.
Albania is a NATO member, but the shoddy “military products” of Timak Defense and KAYO’s corruption with the Israeli private company “ES” are turning us into a banana republic. Our allies demand transparency, integrity and accountability. What do they get? Silence, fog and official arrogance.
What message are we sending to our strategic partners when military equipment may prove to lack the minimum standards for protecting NATO personnel, be worn out, covered by inflated contracts and involve untouchable officials?
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As a NATO member, Albania is judged not only by its defense budget but also by the integrity of its institutions. Every corrupt affair involving KAYO damages the country’s international reputation, while those who wear the uniform every day feel the greatest impact.
KAYO is not merely a critical military structure—it is the ultimate test of the seriousness of our state. Either we fight corruption even where it is most dangerous, or we accept that the army has been turned into political spoils. And a state that allows theft in the military has abandoned self-defense itself.
