From an unknown official to influence over AKSHI tenders: the story of Ergys Agasi’s network according to “In the Crosshairs

The “In the Crosshairs” program, hosted by journalist Klodiana Lala on News24, devoted a special report to the rise of Ergys Agasi, from a former administration official to a figure alleged to have influence over state institutions and AKSHI tender procedures.

The documentary traces Agasi’s career in the administration and private sector, beginning with tobacco-trading companies and continuing with the founding of “EA Solution.” According to SPAK, through this company he is suspected of having received more than 9 million euros in bribes.

Part of the report focuses on an investigation conducted in cooperation with Italian authorities, searches of Agasi’s businesses, and the seizure of servers containing stored footage. It also examines his links with businessman Ermal Beqiri and with AKSHI director Mirlinda Karçanaj.

Excerpt from the documentary:

How did Ergys Agasi go from being an unknown official to a “gray eminence,” toward whom the state behaved as if it were dealing with a godfather?

Few of the people who had worked with him or had been his subordinates could have imagined that, within a few years, he would become not only a billionaire businessman but also the person influencing the state nomenklatura from behind the scenes.

According to the report, his influence extended to the appointment or removal of directors general of the police.

It is even alleged that he was able to influence changes in interior ministers.

The question raised is how a 39-year-old man who once worked in a modest directorate office managed to rise so high and gain influence over an important part of the state.

His rise over the past seven or eight years is described as extraordinary, while Agasi’s name began to become public mainly after investigations by foreign law-enforcement agencies.

The Italian authorities were particularly central to these developments.

They forwarded a wide-ranging investigative file on Ergys Agasi to SPAK.

According to the materials, the investigation had begun in 2019.

The file obtained by the “In the Crosshairs” program shows that, during that period, Italian and Albanian law-enforcement agencies established a joint investigative structure.

The prosecution had registered proceedings for the trafficking of narcotics, carried out as part of a structured criminal group.

In 2023, a criminal proceeding registered by SPAK for the criminal offense of “Smuggling of goods,” committed in the form of a structured criminal group, was added to the file.

During searches conducted in June 2025 at the warehouses of a company owned by Agasi that dealt in tobacco products, servers containing footage stored in separate files were also found.

This information helped uncover his links with politics and senior administration officials, although until then he had largely been a name spoken about behind the scenes.

One of the people linked to this story is Mirlinda Karçanaj, director of the National Agency of Information Society, AKSHI.

This institution conducts procurement procedures worth millions of euros.

According to the report, Agasi and the circle of people operating under his influence had extended their control over AKSHI, securing the most important tenders and turning the scheme into a criminal affair.

It is also alleged that various businessmen were forced to withdraw from the competitions after being sent outside Tirana.

This was done to clear the way for businessmen close to Agasi, among them Ermal Beqiri.

Beqiri was arrested in France and is expected to be extradited to Albania.

Ergys Agasi is the son of Bardhyl Agasi, a former member of the Albanian Parliament for several terms and one of the well-known figures of the Socialist Party, who remained active in politics until the mid-2000s.

Until 2013, Ergys Agasi had maintained a low public profile.

His presence on the public scene began to grow after the Socialists came to power.

Initially, he was appointed to head the State Inspectorate of Environment and Forests.

His appointment was proposed by the Socialist Movement for Integration, which at the time governed together with the Socialist Party, during the latter’s first term in power.

Agasi remained in that position until 2017, when the Socialist Party and the Socialist Movement for Integration ended their cooperation.

However, the political split between the two left-wing forces does not appear to have pushed Agasi out of the power network.

According to the report, he began operating more discreetly, building his influence behind the scenes.

At the same time, Agasi had begun his business activities years earlier.

In 2011, two years before the Socialists came to power, he co-founded the export-import company “Agasi Markoudis Group” with several Greek nationals.

In 2016, he established the company “EA LOGISTICS.”

A year later, the company changed its name to “EA TOBACCO.”

Its main area of activity was the trade in cigarettes.

It was precisely during this period, according to the documentary, that Agasi’s first clashes with the justice system began.

His name drew SPAK’s attention because of the company’s activities.

After purchasing “Albanian Tabak Fabrika e Cigareve,” Agasi is suspected of becoming involved in tobacco smuggling.

In 2020, through “EA Tobaço,” he bought all the shares of the company “Special Tobaço.”

The same company also reverted to its former name, “EA LOGISTICS,” with activities involving the wholesale and retail sale of cigarettes and tobacco products.

As he moved closer to those in power, Agasi appears to have also understood the direction in which the business of the future would be focused.

He began to view technology as the main source of revenue.

For this reason, in 2023 he turned toward the information-technology sector.

On March 15, 2023, Agasi registered the company “EA Solution” LLC in his own name as its sole partner.

The company’s main purpose was the development, implementation, and maintenance of systems and software in the field of information technology.

This company proved particularly profitable for Agasi.

Within two years, through a series of transactions, his portfolio grew by 9 million euros.

According to the report, this income did not come from carrying out specific work, but from influence exerted over the predetermination of AKSHI tenders.

SPAK states in the file that, during 2023 and 2025, Ergys Agasi received more than 9 million euros through several transactions, as bribes in exchange for his influence over the preliminary determination of AKSHI tenders.

Businessman Ermal Beqiri was also involved in this scheme.

According to the investigation, they not only profited millions of euros from AKSHI tenders while the institution was headed by Mirlinda Karçanaj, but also began pressuring competitors.

One of the cases mentioned is that of businessman Gerond Meçe.

Meçe was taken from beneath the apartment building where he lived by people who presented themselves as members of a police patrol and claimed that BKH officers were also present.

He was then taken in the direction of Elbasan and threatened to withdraw from participating in tenders organized by AKSHI, as well as from filing appeals with the institution headed by Mirlinda Karçanaj.

Karçanaj and Agasi appear in footage inside the premises of the latter’s company.

According to the report, Agasi recorded every official who visited his businesses and stored the footage in an archive.

The suspicion is that these recordings could later have been used as a means of blackmail for financial gain.

He had also carefully preserved hours of video footage.

Gerond Meçe specifically accused businessman Ermal Beqiri, who also appears on the premises of Agasi’s company in the presence of Agasi and AKSHI director Mirlinda Karçanaj.