Investigative program Fiks Fare has denounced how some projects financed as part of the IPARD II program for agricultural grants and subsidies were found with irregularities such as the artificial creation of conditions to benefit from higher grants, illegal connections between bidders, inflated prices, failure to maintain original documentation, investments built not in the location of the contract, etc.
Malvina Kuqi, the owner of the “Extra Farm Albania” factory, which has been on the market for 7 years with products for livestock, turned to Fiks Fare precisely because of a fraud that was done to her by a such ‘agent’.
“We wanted to receive a fund from he state agency, because we had heard that it was for agriculture and livestock. We wanted to make our own silo so we could put in other machines and expand the activity. We became interested in making the application. They told us that we could have benefited”, says Mrs. Kuqi.
In order to be a beneficiary, they were recommended to contact a consulting office, to complete the file. The office then made the application.
“The consultant’s name is Irena Shabanllari, who told us that we benefit from it. We had to make the application. She told us that wanted the whole amount in advance. I made the payment to the bank. The amount we paid the consultant was 6 million old lek ($6000). We did not make a contract. We agreed that she would do her part”, continues the whistleblower.
Consultant Shabanllari had told them that she was dealing with this work and had also done many other projects that had turned out to be grant winners. This according to the whistleblower, as the consultant had acquaintances in state offices.
Then Mrs. Kuqi has started to take an interest herself and from the information she gathered she found out that her business was not declared a grant winner. Under these conditions, she called the consultant Irena Shabanllari and affirmed that was withdrawing from the application and requested the reimbursement of 6 million all.
This is where the whole ordeal begins. Ms. Shabanllari told her that she would return it, but that it would take some time. Meanwhile, since March when this payment was made in favor of the consultant, to this day it has not been returned.
The informant along with a journalist from Fiks Fare meet again. In this second conversation, the ‘expert’ shows the scheme how certain individuals and companies can benefit from state grants.
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