In a reaction on social media, Democratic Party MP Bujar Leskaj 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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He said that, in the name of national security, contracts had been signed without genuine competition, with companies having direct political connections, 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 state, it is being turned into a banana republic with the “rags” of Timak Defense’s “military production” and KAYO’s corruption involving the Israeli private company “ES.”
He added that the allies demand transparency, integrity and accountability, while the government instead reflects only silence and fog.
“What message are we sending to our strategic partners when military equipment may turn out not to meet the minimum standards for protecting NATO personnel, be worn-out, involve inflated contracts and have untouchable officials responsible?” he added.
THE REACTION:
Rama’s deception and KAYO’s corruption
In October 1978, the Mechanical Tractor Plant in Tirana produced the first Albanian tractor, a DT-54 model based on the Chinese tracked tractors of the time. In practice, it assembled all the parts of the Chinese tractor, which had arrived from the distant state. Communist propaganda presented it as a genuine tractor production effort, to show the world that little Albania knew how to accomplish great things. In fact, the dictatorship’s Prime Minister Mehmet Shehu himself drove this tractor, assembled at the plant in Tirana, for a few meters.
Commercial vehicles painted with military paint and fitted with added window grilles
Almost 48 years later, on July 31, 2026, Rama ceremoniously inaugurates and declares a shameful and brazen deception to be a “historic day” for the army.
He declares and sells the 37 military vehicles called “Ujku” and 3 dump trucks called “Shkëmbi” as “military vehicles meeting NATO standards,” 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 for 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 added window grilles.
The Toyotas purchased by the Albanian army from Timak offer 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 personnel protection.
These vehicles could be adapted to provide personnel protection, even reaching NATO standard level 1 (STANAG 4569), but this would require them to be modified with bulletproof glass 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 roof rack to carry 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 makeshift additions, 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! The dictatorship’s prime minister was, in this sterile propaganda effort, more original than our current prime minister!
KAYO: a dangerous corrupt structure headed by a shadowy figure
The KAYO military structure, 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 links 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.
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 of 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 arrangement between two governments, but a secret, hundreds-of-millions-of-dollars business deal between KAYO and the Israeli private company “ES.” They are being investigated by NATO over rigged tenders.
This business combines the grandiosity of Rama, the “Global Leader,” with the rampant corruption of his sect, through Ard Veliu and KAYO, as well as a stark 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 lacking transparency under the pretext 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 secure the funds itself through bank loans, while Albania would guarantee the company’s loan with state sovereign guarantees. It would then assume responsibility for repaying it, including hefty interest, for a company that is currently being investigated by NATO for corruption involving NATO’s own tender agency!
Rama’s dealings involving 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, paved the way for KAYO to cooperate with private companies in the military industry—bought 49% of “TIMAK” on that same day. The company had declared turnover of around 518 million lekë and pre-tax profit of 135.8 million lekë in 2024, yet the 49% stake was purchased for just 49 thousand lekë. On the same day, he also bought 49% of “TIMAK Special Vehicles,” again for 49 thousand lekë, even though the company had achieved turnover of approximately 151.6 million lekë during 2024. Immediately afterward, our state reduced its share in the joint company “TIMAK Defense” from 45% to 20%, and KAYO invested 2.58 billion lekë, or 29 million euros, in “TIMAK Defence.”
These murky 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 army 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 the 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 having direct political connections. 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, evade audits and conceal suspicious contracts.
Albania is a NATO member, but the “rags” of Timak Defense’s “military production” and KAYO’s corruption involving 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 turn out not to meet the minimum standards for protecting NATO personnel, be worn-out, involve inflated contracts and have untouchable officials responsible?
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As a NATO member state, Albania is judged not only by its defense budget, but also by the integrity of its structures. 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 crucial military structure—it is the final 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 army has abandoned self-defense itself.
