BIRN: How Ergys Agasi Stayed Hidden for 8 Months under the Protection of the Criminal Underworld; Arrest Came after Change at the Top of the Police

The operation to arrest Ergys Agasi took place on the afternoon of August 26, on a hot summer day as the sun was setting over the Durrës coastline. Dozens of police officers intervened on the highway near the Plepa area.

The 39-year-old had been wanted since December of last year, after being suspected of a series of serious charges linked to the operation of a criminal group involved in manipulating tenders issued by the National Agency of Information Society, AKSHI.

Photos released by the State Police show a black Audi with all four doors open, surrounded by unmarked police cars, uniformed officers and motorcycles.

After the intervention, Agasi was seen on one side of the road with his hands cuffed behind his back and his head being forced downward. The arrest was carried out through a joint operation by the Durrës Police Directorate, the State Police’s operational structures and the Special Prosecution Office, SPAK.

Police agents had followed his movements on Wednesday from Elbasan toward Durrës. Uljan Shpataraku, the former head of the Elbasan Police and a man promoted by former State Police chief Ilir Proda, was traveling in the vehicle with him.

Shpataraku was dismissed by Proda’s successor in May this year on the grounds of “failure to regularly report for work.”

According to information obtained by BIRN through sources familiar with the operation codenamed “Wanted,” Shpataraku was not the only person within the police ranks who had provided support to Agasi during the months he remained on the run.

Several independent sources told BIRN that the police had continuously received information that the 39-year-old was hiding mainly in a building in Shkozet, Durrës, under the protection of a criminal organization. Nevertheless, his arrest had not been carried out until recently.

The authorities also had information about Agasi’s movements from his base in Shkozet to Elbasan and Tirana, where he held meetings with various people from the criminal underworld.

“There had been information about his whereabouts before as well, but the time had now come for the intervention to be carried out,” one of the sources said, requesting anonymity.

A second source told BIRN, also on condition of anonymity, that official efforts to determine Agasi’s whereabouts and arrest him began only after the change in the leadership of the State Police. The change in the governing structure was completed at the end of July.

“Previously, it had been impossible to take action to detain Ergys Agasi, despite the fact that there had been extensive information and data about his whereabouts, which were held by investigative and law-enforcement institutions,” the source said.

SPAK’s investigations have portrayed Agasi, despite holding no public office, as a person who wielded influence over several senior officials and had powers delegated by the political establishment.

Former Deputy Prime Minister Arben Ahmetaj, who is on the run, has publicly accused Agasi of serving as “a coordinator” between organized crime and the government of Prime Minister Edi Rama.

For more than 10 years, AKSHI administered a very large budget. In just 19 procedures investigated by SPAK, the ceiling fund was calculated at 5.9 billion lek, or around 59 million euros.

According to the investigation, AKSHI Director Mirlinda Karçanaj and her deputy, Hava Delibashi, had handed these funds over to a group linked to organized crime.

By predetermining the winners, tens of millions of euros are suspected of having been diverted to the accounts of IT businessman Ermal Beqiraj and businessman Ergys Agasi.

Agasi and Beqiraj are suspected of having built, together with Karçanaj and other individuals, a scheme to embezzle public funds. According to the charges, the scheme involved doubling the value of tenders, predetermining the winners and transferring millions of euros to the accounts of a fictitious company. Members of organized crime are suspected of having been engaged to eliminate competitors. Those under investigation are also accused of money laundering.

Through his lawyer, Maksim Haxhia, Agasi has denied all the accusations. After Friday’s hearing on the security measure, which left his client in custody, Haxhia told reporters that Agasi “was never part of the tender procedures, did not receive any kind of benefit, and was never part of criminal groups.”

Ermal Beqiraj, Agasi’s business partner, was arrested in France on July 24. He was flying a light aircraft through restricted airspace over the Penly nuclear power plant when he was escorted by French air force personnel until landing at the Albert aerodrome in the Somme region of northern France.

SPAK announced that further investigations by the French authorities led to the identification of Beqiraj’s assets in France, which are suspected of originating from criminal activities.

According to the Special Prosecution Office, he had transferred part of his illicit profits to France, with which he is suspected of having bought a castle and two apartments, while depositing more than 2 million euros in bank accounts.

About three months ago, the Special Court of Appeals rejected part of SPAK’s requests to seize assets worth 40 million euros owned by individuals and companies linked to those under investigation in the AKSHI affair.