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Three hypotheses about what is happening at Vlora airport and why "uncle" doesn't know how to behave with Rama
The Kosovar businessman, one of the three or four richest Albanians in the world, has been in the spotlight in recent days for a series of Facebook statuses, where a servility to the point of licking towards Edi Rama stands out.
All of them have to do with an investment that is taking, day by day, the form of a major scandal: that of the Vlora airport. Behgjet Pacolli, directly involved in its construction, the one who made a stir with his reluctance to land with his private charter on the runway fictitiously inaugurated for the May 11 elections, has been forced to issue several statements. Initially, he boasted about the prime minister, whose "aesthetic vision" will make the airport one of the most beautiful in the world.
Later, clarifying a private conversation with journalist Çim Peka about this issue, he once included Rama in a status and then, in a panic, corrected what he had written, deleting the name of the head of government from his note.
Throughout Behgjet Pacolli's public stance, there was a sense of fear, anxiety, and uncertainty towards what he considered a "coordinated conspiracy in Albania" against him.
To understand what the Kosovar businessman sees as a trap, as well as to explain his strange behavior, one must look at all versions of what is happening.
Vlora Airport is behind schedule with its completion, contract implementation, and the start of flights.
The primary reason given for this is the dispute between the owners, Valon Ademi, who has only 2% on paper, and Behgjet Pacolli, who controls the rest of the shares. The minority partner, a man close to ministers in the Rama government, Ademi, claims that based on the documents they have with each other, he should go up to 49%, and that is why he has turned to the courts.
Another hypothesis, which has also set the Tirana prosecutor's office in motion, claims that Pacolli has received loans worth tens of millions of euros from circles linked to Moscow. This version, also spread in the media, raises the alarm for national security, for the violation of the airport as a strategic asset, and even mentions unknown sources that claim that NATO allies are concerned about this penetration of Russia into Albanian air traffic control. Knowing Pacolli's controversial past, his connections since the time he rebuilt the Kremlin, this version tends to overlap and obscure any kind of corruption and robbery that government circles may have planned to take their share of this very profitable area.
And here we come to the third version. The hypothesis that Behgjet Pacolli is blackmailing the media, the prosecutor and the court, so that those who decided that Vlora should become an airport benefit from their fat bottom. This assumption is based on the claim that those who support Valon Ademi, the partner with 2%, wanting his quota to go to 49%, demand the lion's share of this investment. And it is not small. If you open the papers, you can see that for the new airport, a total of more than 100 million euros have been invested so far, while according to the business plan, the concession is calculated to benefit more than 700 million in the end. So an "asset" that cannot be left without a master. This third hypothesis is also reinforced by the genesis of the conception of the Vlora airport as a real robbery plan.
At first, in 2017, the Rama government thought of awarding it, without a competition or tender, to a predetermined Turkish company, through a special law that would be passed in parliament. The drafting of the contract for which former ministers Arben Ahmetaj and Damian Gjiknuri were appointed failed. But this did not mean that the intention to forget about this bag of money fell with it. In the second attempt, there would be a competition, but it would be fake. When it was organized in 2020, everything was rigged, a Turkish company was fictitiously acquired, just to meet the conditions on paper, the competition requirements were changed just four days before its development, and the competing company, the British AL-DE Corporation LTD, which later complained about this scandal, was excluded from the competition allegedly for not having complete documentation.
Best of all, the Turks who were declared the winners, as the only ones who knew how to build an airport, YDA Group, the ones who had also built the electoral hospital in Fier, withdrew immediately after the end of the “competition”. They sold their 40% of the shares in the airport, the price of a motorbike, 4200 euros.
Throughout this saga, the goal of getting more than half a billion euros seems to have remained unchanged. The only thing that has changed is the replacement of Gjiknuri and Ahmetaj with Belinda Balluku, who now directs everything.
But, if this hypothesis is true, if this was the ultimate goal, could only Behgjet Pacolli enjoy this wealth? Shouldn't he have handed over 49% as he is being asked to do today? Is it all just a money game?
With so few elements that have been made public so far, no one can bet on which of these versions is closer to the truth. What is known for sure is that Behgjet Pacolli has been framed from behind by Belinda, his former partner Ademi, the Tirana prosecutor's office, the court, and a noisy media coalition.
That's why he talks about a "coordinated conspiracy" without going any further. When it comes to Edi Rama, he either sings praises or is forced to lick what he might have spit out. Because deep down, he knows better than anyone else that the fury against him has a conductor.
In any case, even if the "baca" has made maneuvers with dubious funds, even if he has a real quarrel over the division of percentages with the other shareholder, or even if those who have planned everything since 2017, when his name did not appear anywhere, now want to snatch the piece, so whichever of the hypotheses is closer to reality, Pacolli is clear, his early experience of negotiating with autocrats has taught him, that it is the latter who decide everything. Therefore, the billionaire businessman is appearing in public as a man who has lowered his dignity to the bottom of his feet in relation to Rama. He is a rich man who feels scared. ©Lapsi.al
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