Belinda Balluku hid two villas in his name, Igli Tare officially charged with money laundering

The Special Prosecution Office against Corruption and Organized Crime (SPAK) has officially notified former national team footballer Igli Tare of the charge. He has been charged with money laundering after hiding two villas belonging to former Deputy Prime Minister Belinda Balluku in his name.

These are two villas, in Palasë and Dhërmi, which were seized by SPAK. Meanwhile, today the prosecution is expected to notify charges to several businessmen involved in tenders as well.

A day earlier, the Special Prosecution Office communicated the final charges to Rama’s former subordinate: violations of tender equality in 9 cases, passive corruption in two different capacities, money laundering, and concealment and non-declaration of the assets of the two villas in the south.

The seized villas

The first villa was discovered in Dhërmi, valued at 145,000 euros, and was seized in June. SPAK suspects that Balluku obtained the villa as a bribe in exchange for favoring the company “Eurocol” in a tender with a limit fund of 88.6 million lekë and a contract supplement of 14.1 million lekë at the time she headed “Albcontrol”.

According to the prosecution, to conceal the villa’s real ownership, Balluku used Igli Tare and her subordinate at the time she headed Albcontrol, citizen J.B., through order and lease contracts considered fictitious by investigators.

The second villa, in Palasë, was seized in September. According to SPAK, Belinda Balluku is suspected of obtaining the villa in Palasë in exchange for favoring the company “Alko Impex General Construction” in the tender for Lot 7 of Tirana’s Outer Ring Road, with a limit fund of around 23.5 million euros.

According to the investigation, the investment in the villa was made by the owner of the winning company, Arbër Abazi, with a value SPAK estimates at between 288,616 and 410,526 euros. Initially, for its construction up to the shell phase, Igli Tare is suspected to have been used, through a works contract worth 250,000 euros.

SPAK claims that Balluku concealed the real ownership by registering the villa in Igli Tare’s name. For this purpose, according to the prosecution, a sale contract suspected of being fictitious, dated September 12, 2025, was also used.