In a statement posted on social media, Democratic Party MP Jorida Tabaku addressed the incinerator affair, calling for the investigation to go further and uncover the entire chain of decision-making and movement of money.

Tabaku recalled that she has been denouncing the incinerator issue since 2018, while stressing that the investigations and the Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry have exposed a scheme that, according to her, involved abuses, corrupt contracts and decision-making at various levels of the administration.

According to Tabaku, the Committee of Inquiry’s calculations put the value of the scheme at more than €430 million. She accused the government of using laws and contracts that generated private profits, while arguing that responsibility should not be limited only to those who have already faced justice.

“The incinerator scheme cannot be broken up into three or more unrelated stories. It is difficult to believe that a series of 17 decisions could have been made within a single day for the Elbasan incinerator; that government scoring and bonuses could have been concocted for another; or that Tirana could have been saddled with a bill of more than €300 million without a Municipal Council decision, while the same individuals were also given a de facto monopoly over soil disposal,” Tabaku wrote.

Tabaku called on the justice system to follow “the money, signatures and responsibilities” to the very end and without exceptions, describing the incinerator affair as a “litmus test” for justice and for the way power operates in Albania.

“The political and institutional responsibility of the head of the Municipality of Tirana for a contract of this magnitude cannot be overlooked. Nor can the prime minister’s role be overlooked in a mechanism that mobilized ministries, municipalities and the Council of Ministers itself. It is not credible that millions of euros ended up in the hands of just three individuals who entered this sector without capital, experience or any track record, without having connections and without corrupting government officials. That is why the incinerator affair remains a litmus test for justice,” the Democratic Party MP wrote.

STATEMENT:

THE INCINERATORS, A LITMUS TEST FOR JUSTICE

In February 2018, when I summoned the energy minister for an interpellation from the floor of Parliament, I could not have imagined that behind the Elbasan and Fier incinerator affair lay a much deeper pit: abuses, manipulation, corrupt contracts and a scheme that would extend all the way to the Tirana incinerator.

A chain of decision-making that ran from mayors and the Ministry of Environment to the Council of Ministers and Prime Minister Rama.

At the time, even I found it difficult to grasp the full scale of a scheme that, according to the Committee of Inquiry’s calculations, amounted to more than €430 million. A scheme that mobilized an entire government and put public officials to work, even on Sundays, to award what appeared to be just three individuals three contracts, along with other benefits and monopolies.

The millions from back then have now, in all likelihood, become billions.

The Committee of Inquiry into the incinerators was key to understanding not only the scale of the abuse, but also the way the Socialist government had chosen to run the state: tailor-made laws, contracts drafted on the beneficiaries’ computers and legislative amendments that generated private profits, bearing the signatures and approval of senior officials.

Everything was exposed during hours of testimony, questions and answers that revealed how the system had been established and how it operated.

For me, the incinerator affair remains a litmus test not only for justice, but also for the way power operates in Albania.

Before the Committee of Inquiry began its work, three criminal complaints had been filed. Upon the completion of its work, another 15 criminal complaints were filed. Anyone who has seen a substantial portion of the evidence can understand that the investigation should have moved faster, gone deeper and reached higher.

The fact that SPAK has sent the Tirana incinerator case to trial, including charges of involvement in a structured criminal group, is important. But this cannot be the end of the matter.

The incinerator scheme cannot be broken up into three or more unrelated stories. It is difficult to believe that a series of 17 decisions could have been made within a single day for the Elbasan incinerator; that government scoring and bonuses could have been concocted for another; or that Tirana could have been saddled with a bill of more than €300 million without a Municipal Council decision, while the same individuals were also given a de facto monopoly over soil disposal.

It remains equally inexplicable that Erion Veliaj is not among the defendants sent to trial in the Tirana incinerator case.

The political and institutional responsibility of the head of the Municipality of Tirana for a contract of this magnitude cannot be overlooked. Nor can the prime minister’s role be overlooked in a mechanism that mobilized ministries, municipalities and the Council of Ministers itself.

It is not credible that millions of euros ended up in the hands of just three individuals who entered this sector without capital, experience or any track record, without having connections and without corrupting government officials.

That is why the incinerator affair remains a litmus test for justice.

The justice system must give us the full picture of the trail of money, signatures and decisions. It must explain how three virtually unknown individuals managed, from their personal computers, to mobilize four ministries, three municipalities and a Council of Ministers.

And how they managed to persuade Prime Minister Rama to launch his 2021 election campaign from their facility.

The investigation must follow the money, signatures and responsibilities—to the very end and without exceptions.

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