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Shkruar nga Nga redaksia Pamfleti – Shkodër | Podgoricë
The "investment" scheme that hides dubious capital; a Balkan model that challenges the state and distorts the market...
The latest investigation by the Montenegrin media outlet Vijesti into the phenomenon of “zelenašenja” (blood interest) in Montenegro is not just a local dark story. It is an alarming reflection of a criminal financial model that, with minor variations, is also present in Albania.
Essentially, we are dealing with a transformation of traditional usury into a modern money laundering instrument: dirty money that enters the economy through "partnerships", investments in construction, the purchase of properties or the opening of shell businesses.
The scheme is sophisticated, but the mechanism remains brutal. Individuals with dubious capital offer high-interest loans to struggling businesses or desperate individuals. When the debt becomes unsustainable, the creditor no longer demands cash, but a share in the business, property, or influence in decision-making.
At this point, black money moves from the criminal periphery to the center of the formal economy. What on paper looks like “co-investment” is in reality economic annexation through financial pressure.
In Albania, this scheme has found fertile ground in sectors with high cash flow and low transparency, such as construction, seasonal tourism, real estate trade, and cash-intensive activities.
The rapid growth of residential towers and complexes in Tirana and on the coast has constantly raised questions about the source of the initial capital. In the absence of an in-depth financial investigation for every major investment, the economy risks being distorted by money that does not follow the logic of the market, but the logic of recycling criminal profits.
The role of institutions is crucial. In Albania, SPAK has strong legal instruments at its disposal for property investigation and confiscation of assets of unjustified origin. But the real challenge is not only to hit the individuals directly involved in the crime, but to dismantle the financial chain that allows this money to enter the system through notaries, lawyers, shell companies and fragmented transfers. Without an integrated financial investigation strategy, the phenomenon always remains one step ahead of justice.
At the regional level, Moneyval reports have consistently highlighted that the Western Balkans remain vulnerable to money laundering due to large informal economies and weak controls over beneficial ownership of companies. This is also an issue of European integration. The European Union has made it clear that the fight against money laundering and economic crime is an essential condition for advancing in negotiations. In this sense, tolerating modern “zelenašenja” (usury) is not only a social problem, but a strategic cost to the country’s European aspirations.
The social dimension is equally worrying. Modern usury creates an economy of fear: businesses that dare not report, individuals who are silenced by pressure, families who lose their property due to a relatively small initial debt. In this way, crime controls not only money, but also economic territory and local influence. This leads to a distortion of competition: honest entrepreneurs face rivals who do not care about the rate of profit, because their objective is not the market, but the legalization of capital.
If Albania and the countries of the region do not move from a sporadic response to a systematic investigation of wealth and full transparency of investment capital, the “dirty millions” will continue to be transformed into luxury hotels, towers and resorts. In the end, the question is not whether the phenomenon exists, but how deeply it has penetrated the economic fabric. And the longer it remains silent, the more expensive the cost will be for the state, the market and the citizens./ Pamphlet
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