Journalist Klodiana Lala’s investigative program “Në Shënjestër” on News24 has examined the case of former deputy prime minister Belinda Balluku, focusing on assets she is suspected of concealing in other people’s names to evade the law.
At the center of the investigation is family villa No. 188/1, with an area of 478 square meters, where substantial investments have been made. According to the case file, the property was initially bought by Igli Tare for 250,000 euros, while businessman Arbër Abazi, administrator of “Alko Impex General Construction,” took responsibility for the subsequent work and investment. SPAK prosecutors suspect Tare’s name was used to conceal the villa’s true ownership. They have examined the property documents, electronic communications between the construction companies and those involved in the work, and the family and business ties among them.
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One person named in the documents is Lorela Reçi, Belinda Balluku’s cousin and Arbër Abazi’s partner. The investigation shows that she closely monitored work on the villa, communicated with design studios and construction companies, and signed documents concerning the investments.
SPAK has concluded that Balluku has indirect ownership of the villa, although it is registered in Igli Tare’s name. The property has been placed under preventive seizure by order of the GJKKO.
The program’s full documentary opens with an old proverb: laws are like spiderwebs, catching small flies while large wasps break through them. According to the program, the proverb applies today above all to Belinda Balluku, the former deputy prime minister, who is described as one of the most powerful people in Albania—even more powerful than Prime Minister Edi Rama himself.
While Rama has handed over his associates from 13 years in power to the justice system one by one, he appears to have no intention of doing the same with Balluku. Unlike the others, he has decided to defend her to the end, sending back to Parliament SPAK’s request to lift the former government number two’s immunity.
Balluku last appeared at SPAK’s offices on October 28. She was informed that the investigations against her had concluded and of the five charges brought against her, including corruption, money laundering, concealment of assets and abuse of tender procedures. The former deputy prime minister must answer for nine tender procedures involving infrastructure projects and public works.
Among the most prominent tenders are those for the Llogara Tunnel, the Tirana Outer Ring Road and the Porto Romano–Durrës route. Former senior officials of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy, trusted associates of Balluku, well-known businessmen and former national team footballer Igli Tare have also been charged in connection with this case.
The ties between these figures and Belinda Balluku emerge through traces she left at properties suspected of having been acquired through corruption, including a villa uncovered in the “White Rocks” complex in Dhërmi. The villa, in which an estimated 420,000 euros was invested, had been concealed in the name of former footballer Igli Tare.
Inside, Balluku or her family members left traces on the villa’s furnishings. SPAK documented every detail linking Balluku to the villa, which she has consistently sought to deny was hers. The findings begin with a wall-mounted television with the “Netflix” platform installed: accessing it requires going through the name Belinda Balluku or those of her two children, who appear to have visited the villa frequently. Paintings on the walls also bear the name of the former deputy prime minister’s daughter.
Similar incriminating evidence was found among decorations used in the villa, including those for Balluku’s son’s birthday. Moreover, the electricity bills were paid by her subordinate Viola Haxhiademi, who is also under investigation by SPAK.
Balluku’s connection to businessman Pandeli Carapuli’s company “Eurocol” is key. SPAK’s investigation found that Carapuli not only won a tender to renovate the “Albcontrol” building while Balluku headed the institution, but also gave her a villa in the “White Rocks” complex in Dhërmi in return. The first signs of this alleged corrupt arrangement date to 2014.
At that time, Balluku became director general of “Albcontrol.” She asked the “Atelier 4” architecture studio to prepare a design for the “Renovation of the Albcontrol technology building.” According to Balluku, because funds were lacking, the studio was asked to do the project free of charge. She made the same request of another architecture studio. Evis Berberi also entered the picture; later, when Balluku became transport minister, he was rewarded with the position of head of the Albanian Road Authority. A search of Berberi’s home and a forensic examination of his phone uncovered messages and emails implicating not only Balluku but also her trusted associates and businessmen.
The findings that convinced prosecutors that villa “F6” in the “White Rocks” complex in Dhërmi was in Balluku’s possession and had been obtained from “Eurocol,” administered by Pandeli Carapuli, began with one of Balluku’s most loyal subordinates, Viola Haxhiademi, then director of the Administrative Department at “Albcontrol.”
She communicated with her sister, Dorela Haxhiademi, and told her that Balluku had a residential unit in the “White Rocks” complex. In an email, Viola Haxhiademi wrote to her sister: “Sweetheart, I’m sending you photos of Bela’s place so you can see what the house is like. I’ve also sent you the project plan so you can see which one it is. Bela has ‘F5,’ while we have ‘F6.’ If you look at the closer photo I took of the villas, I’ve also marked where the pool will be built.”
For villa “F6,” the purchase order agreement was signed on December 5, 2018, between Igli Tare, as purchaser, and “Eurocol” sh.p.k. The villa’s full price was 145,000 euros. According to SPAK’s findings, Igli Tare paid only 70,000 euros, leaving the remainder unpaid. After work was completed in 2019, Balluku and her family appear to have been frequent visitors to the villa at “White Rocks,” as indicated by what was found inside.
During a search of the villa on April 27, 2026, signs of the former deputy prime minister’s family were found on several household items and electronic devices. The case file states: “During the search of the villa, the following were specifically observed: paintings hung on the villa’s walls bearing the initials of Belinda Balluku’s daughter; birthday decorations bearing the name of Belinda Balluku’s son; and, on the television in the villa’s living room, ‘Netflix’ was found open under the account email ‘[email protected],’ with Belinda Balluku and her children listed as users.”
An unnotarized “lease agreement” dated May 25, 2022, was also found in the villa. It was between Igli Tare, as landlord, and Joana Bushi, as tenant, for villa “F6” at “White Rocks.” Joana Bushi is considered one of Balluku’s most trusted associates. The agreement stated that the lease would begin on June 1, 2022, and end on June 1, 2024, and would renew automatically for a two-year period from the expiry date. The rent was 450 euros a month, payable annually, and later rose to 600 euros a month. Joana Bushi deposited 5,400 euros into Igli Tare’s bank account. However, the investigation found that the lease was fictitious and had been drawn up to obscure the identity of the property’s real possessor, whom SPAK says is Belinda Balluku.
The case file says that, to conceal her possession of the villa, Balluku used her subordinate Joana Bushi to enter into a fictitious lease with Igli Tare, the other person used as the purchaser. Igli Tare’s actions concerning the purchase order agreement and the formalized partial payment were carried out on Belinda Balluku’s behalf. The property appears to have been acquired as an improper benefit given to Balluku by Pandeli Carapuli, administrator of “Eurocol” sh.p.k.
Balluku also created a WhatsApp group called “Dhërmi” for her circle at “Albcontrol,” named after the location of the villa at “White Rocks.” Its members were Belinda Balluku, Viola Haxhiademi, Matilda Kërçaku, Maksim Ethemaj and Alketa Pano. The records obtained show that residential units at “White Rocks” began to be handed over to interested parties in June 2019. From the time it was handed over, the villa appears to have been used regularly by Balluku. A forensic examination of Viola Haxhiademi’s seized “Blackberry” phone shows that, on June 21, 2019, Balluku, using the mobile number “06960*****,” created the “Dhërmi” WhatsApp group so members could coordinate when they were at the villa. Joana Bushi, who entered into the fictitious lease with Igli Tare for villa “F6,” is absent from the group, although the villa effectively appears to belong to Balluku.
The special client’s demands were so extensive that they challenged even the best architecture studio in Albania. Its staff were ready to satisfy her every whim, as long as she was pleased. After the first villa, another villa, with more than 800,000 euros invested in it, was discovered in this coveted stretch of the southern Riviera.
That villa, uncovered and subsequently seized by SPAK under a GJKKO order in early September of this year, is No. 188/1 at the “Green Coast” resort in Palasë. According to the findings, it was initially bought by Igli Tare, the well-known former Albania national team striker who, until recently, was Milan’s sporting director. Then, surprisingly, the villa passed into other hands, whose owner ensured that hundreds of thousands of euros were invested in it. In the final act, the true name of the special client with particular demands emerged: Belinda Balluku, whose investment several times exceeded the purchase price.
While SPAK has submitted her name to Parliament to have her immunity lifted and bring her before the justice system, Prime Minister Rama continues to hold up the request. Balluku remains free to walk the streets of Tirana despite the serious corruption charges against her as a former deputy prime minister and transport minister, relating to irregularities in tenders—specifically lots 4, 5, 6 and 7 of the Tirana Ring Road—as well as the Llogara Tunnel affair. She appeared in Parliament on the evening of October 8 to cast her vote for the dissolution of 15 municipalities and cynically challenged protesters chanting her name.
Balluku is also under investigation for corruption and money laundering in connection with two tenders worth more than 1 million euros from her time as director general of “Albcontrol.” SPAK said the tenders were awarded unlawfully to a construction company from which Balluku received a villa in Dhërmi worth 145,000 euros as a bribe; that villa has been seized by order of the GJKKO. She appears to have invested the stolen money in another luxury villa on the southern coast, the subject of SPAK’s latest discovery: a 478 m² family villa in the “Green Coast” complex in Palasë, one of the most coveted and luxurious areas of the Albanian Riviera, which the GJKKO has placed under preventive seizure.
Balluku’s connection to the villa at “Green Coast” emerges from email correspondence, beginning with exchanges between Lorela Reçi, Balluku’s cousin, and the villa’s designers. Reçi is also the partner of Arbër Abazi, administrator of “Alko Impex General Construction.” These records further reveal Igli Tare’s connection to the villa in Palasë and the suspicion that his name served merely as a cover for the fact that the villa actually belonged to Balluku.
The connection between Igli Tare and Belinda Balluku appears to date back to 2019. At that time, a company founded by Igli Tare received a construction permit in Tirana bearing the signature of Minister Balluku, who was minister of Infrastructure and Transport and had influence on the National Territorial Council. According to the case file, Igli Tare registered “AgroRoma 2019” sh.p.k on January 25, 2019, holding 100% of its shares. Together with “EB Construction” sh.p.k, “AgroRoma 2019” sh.p.k received a construction permit for a “complex-use building, services, hospitality and residential” near Zogu i Zi in Tirana, under National Territorial Council decision No. 07 of June 10, 2021. Belinda Balluku also signed that decision in her capacity as minister of Infrastructure and Energy.
Igli Tare is recorded as owning two villas in the “Green Coast” complex in Palasë. Although family villa No. 188/1 is registered in Tare’s name, it is suspected of actually belonging to Belinda Balluku. According to the findings, the purchase price was 250,000 euros, paid in two installments. It was agreed that the developer would hand the property over to the buyer, Mr. Tare, after the building had passed its final inspection. The sale agreement was formalized on September 12, 2020, between the seller, “Green Coast” shpk, and the buyer, Igli Tare.
The uncovered documents show that Igli Tare funded villa No. 188/1 in Palasë up to the shell-construction stage, after which businessman Arbër Abazi, son of former Socialist MP Sadri Abazi, took responsibility for the work. Abazi is the partner of Lorela Reçi, Belinda Balluku’s cousin. According to the case file, the property described as “Two-story family villa No. 188/1, Nucleus 27” at “Green Coast” in Palasë is in Balluku’s possession. Specifically, Igli Tare funded it up to the shell stage, while the remaining work was undertaken and carried out by Arbër Abazi, owner of “Alko Impex General Construction,” a member company of the consortium that won the procurement contract for “Construction of the Tirana Outer Ring Road, Lot 7.”
Lorela Reçi took responsibility for overseeing all work on villa 188/1 and the one beside it. She not only communicated with the studios and crews doing the work but was the first to be informed of every development concerning investment in the villa. The property file contains a “Works declaration form” signed by Lorela Reçi, describing her as authorized by the investor’s office to carry out work on villa No. 188/1. By signing it, she undertook to carry out various works, beginning with the façade and continuing through completion. Reçi guaranteed that the work would be done to a high standard and that the crews had the experience and personnel to finish it on time. Under the agreement, the work was to be completed within 30 days of signing, by May 30, 2022. The document was also signed by A.H., a representative of the company building villa 188/1. There is another document signed by Igli Tare, the construction company’s representative and Lorela Reçi.
Of particular interest are emails exchanged among the developer “Green Coast,” employees of the construction company “Mane TCI” sh.p.k, employees of its member company “Balffin Construction,” employees of “Alko Impex General Construction,” and Lorela Reçi. They concern changes to the building’s structure, scheduling work after completion of the shell and construction of the pool.
The correspondence shows that the parties agreed on structural changes to villas 187/2 and 188/1. An email dated February 14, 2022, sent from [email protected] to lorela.reç[email protected], copying [email protected], says: “Hello Lorela… Following our telephone conversation about the changes and work on villas 187/2 and 188/1, these have been confirmed… As discussed, work on these villas must be completed in April 2022, and it is essential that you send us a work schedule so we can coordinate it with the façade work the company will carry out. I would particularly appreciate it if, within two days, you could send: 1. a schedule for the structural work: demolition of the staircase, structural additions to be carried out by you… If possible, with your authorization, we would like to speak to your architect about technical matters… Your work crews can start immediately to make the most of the time available…”
The following day, Lorela Reçi forwarded the email to architect R. Xh., who works at “Alko Impex General Construction.” The architect then kept in contact with the representative of the company building villa 188/1, updating her on the pool work and the fact that it was still at the excavation stage. This information also went to Reçi, who was kept informed about work on both villas, Nos. 187/2 and 188/1. The wall proposed for demolition was the one separating the two villas: the one ordered by Igli Tare and the neighboring villa. The change was requested by Lorela Reçi, the partner of businessman Arbër Abazi, whose company won the tender to build Lot 7 of the Tirana Outer Ring Road. The correspondence also discusses luxury features, including an indoor Jacuzzi.
Work on both villas was delayed beyond the original deadlines. Although completion was scheduled for May 2022, the correspondence shows that work continued until November of that year, partly because of the demands of the special client, whose identity had not yet been revealed.
An email dated November 16, 2022, sent from [email protected] to Merita Kushi, copying Lorela Reçi, contains an attachment titled “physical handover form.pdf.” The document was issued by “Mane TCI” sh.p.k for the “Green Coast” Palasë project, specifically the property “Two-story family villa No. 188/1, Nucleus 27.”
Reçi’s involvement with both villas is also demonstrated by correspondence among construction company employees. In an email dated November 17, 2022, Hendi Kono asks: “Lorela Reçi has 187/2, not 188/1… Is that a typo?” Merita Kushi replies, “Authorized,” and Hendi Kono responds, “I stand corrected.” In another email, dated February 8, 2022, a sender writes that “one of the 188 villas was handed over to a different client from the purchaser… On what basis and with whose confirmation?” F.B. replies: “188/1 was taken over by the client Lorela Reçi. According to the information we have, it was taken over with authorization on behalf of the purchaser under the contract (I. Tare). It is a somewhat unusual case, in fact, since communication with this client has always been handled by you.”
The correspondence also reveals the links between the “Atelier 4” architecture studio and Lorela Reçi. The studio belongs to brothers Alban and Olsi Eftimi; Alban Eftimi is a former director general of Urban Planning at Tirana City Hall. Emails between employees of “Atelier 4” sh.p.k and “Alko Impex General Construction” about the work estimates show two versions: the first totaling 288,616 euros and the second 410,526 euros. According to the correspondence, the Jacuzzi would be installed between villas Nos. 187 and 188/1.
The pool had been ordered from “SuperPoolKimya,” administered by Mirand Seferi. Here, for the first time, Belinda Balluku’s name appears in black and white, in a note left by Arbër Abazi, who oversaw the investment in villa No. 188/1. In “Superpool Kimya’s” computer system, a customer-data table lists “Arbër Abazi pool (Dhërmi) +Belinda” in the “Client” field, with a quantity of 2, phase 1, an agreed price of 25,000 euros, 10,000 euros paid and 15,000 euros outstanding.
The pool work was carried out by “Superbeton Construction” sh.p.k, a company owned by Mirand Seferi’s wife, while the invoice was billed to “Alko Impex Construction,” owned by Arbër Abazi. The electronic invoicing system shows two invoices from “Superbeton Construction” sh.p.k to “Alko Impex Construction” totaling 25,000 euros: invoice No. 103, dated April 26, 2022, for 15,000 euros, described as “Pipe installation, phase 1,” and an invoice dated June 20, 2022, for 10,000 euros, described as “Prepaid.”
The ventilation system was installed by “Billi AL” sh.p.k and billed to “Alko Impex General Construction.” The electronic invoicing system shows that “Billi Al” sh.p.k issued invoice No. 122, dated July 19, 2022, to “Alko Impex General Construction” for a total of 15 122 42 euros, with the description “Progress statement attached to invoice.”
In an email dated September 14, 2020, Alban Eftimi sent Belinda Balluku a rendering titled “Plans Rev 01.” He wrote: “I’m sending you a revision. Our idea is that even if you rent it out, guests should be able to feel ‘pampered,’ just as they would in a hotel. The stairs between the two buildings have climbing greenery on both side walls. On one side of the pool, steps lead down to a dining table at water level so people can enjoy the infinity pool to the fullest. At the edge facing the sea, the pool also has a ledge for glasses and perhaps a plate. The treadmill can be moved close to the pool for a long workout with a wide sea view. The building’s terrace is finished mainly in teak, with greenery for coolness and privacy, and a dining table and barbecue. On the two outer sides of the houses, at the entrance and suite levels, we’ve added two hot tubs (see the Roccabella hotel in Santorini). We’ll keep working on options for the suites. The partitions for the kitchen and the wardrobe in the master bedroom fold away. Much of the space around the pools is finished in teak for a slightly warmer, yacht-like feel. Consider it as an alternative once we’ve finished the renderings, and if it doesn’t appeal to you, we’ll return to the blue marble.”
The correspondence between Alban Eftimi and Balluku shows that the idea of twin villas dates back two years before they were built and developed. An email dated September 18, 2020, also suggests this: it contains a document titled “Twin Villas 188 _ Palasë pdf,” with floor plans and designs for both villas. Attention to the project was intense because precise execution was very important to the client. One email says: “Also, during construction, we would like to be notified promptly of any difficulties you encounter in carrying out the work so we can propose solutions. Precise execution of the design is very important to the investor.”
The emails suggest that Olsi Efthimi met with the client. SPAK’s inquiries found that the client was not Igli Tare, because he was not in Albania on the day of the meeting. According to prosecutors, these facts support their conclusion that Balluku used her position as minister of Infrastructure and Energy to favor various companies in road tenders, including “Alko Impex Construction,” administered by Arbër Abazi. After awarding him the tender for Lot 7 of the Tirana Outer Ring Road, she received, in return, investment in her villa No. 188/1 at the “Green Coast” complex in Palasë.
She initially concealed the villa in Igli Tare’s name; he invested 250,000 euros up to the shell-construction stage. Arbër Abazi then took over and continued the investment. According to the estimates for the work undertaken by Abazi, its value ranges from 288,616 to 410,526 euros. To conceal property acquired as proceeds of the crime of corruption, Belinda Balluku used Igli Tare, carrying out fictitious transactions involving the ownership documents and registering the property in his name.
As the investigation continued, the evidence obtained showed that Belinda Balluku has indirect ownership of the property registered in the name of Igli Tare, who is under investigation: “Two-story family villa No. 188/1, Nucleus 27,” in the “Green Coast” complex in Palasë. Unlike other party colleagues who are now behind bars or have served sentences for similar corruption affairs, Balluku is fiercely protected by Prime Minister Rama.
