By Artan Rama, “Publicus”
On 24 October, the Ministry of Culture, with the capacity of the contracting authority, announced the construction companies “AGI KONS” sh.pk and EDIL AL-IT sh.pk, winners in a tender tender! The announcement was made public on the Web Procurement Agency website (documents at the end of the article).
According to the announcement, this merger of operators was identified as a ‘successful bid’ in an ‘open procurement’ procedure with the object ‘Rehabilitation of the National Theater of the Opera and the National Ensemble’ with an amount of money of 998,862,862 ALL or to make it more understandable, nearly ALL 10 billion (old).
“Públicus” investigated this tendering process, collected a number of official documents, and reviewed the relevant legislation on which tenders for public funds are based.
The results of this investigation are as follows.
Pursuant to the Law “On Public Procurement”, Article 45, “On the Exclusion of Bidders”, the “EDIL AL-IT” sh.pk company should be excluded from the participation because according to this document, issued by General Directorate of Taxes, this company has unpaid tax liabilities amounting to 4,958,780 ALL!
Article 45, point dh, gives the right of exclusion to authority, if the company has not fulfilled the obligations for payment of taxes.
– “If you do not pay the full value of the tax due,” – said in the memo, “enforced collection procedures for tax liabilities will apply!” This document is dated July 13.
While a month later, in August, the Ministry of Culture announced the opening of procurement procedures for the TKOB Hall.
On August 29, the announcement was announced in the Public Announcement Bulletin (shrink). Four companies were presented in the tender contest.
In the end, the winner was declared “AGI KONS” sh.pk & “EDIL AL-IT” sh.p.k
But in the Standard Standards Open Procedure Jobs Manual, Appendix 10, the Ministry of Culture asks the bidders to prove, through documents, no earlier than three months, the repayment of fiscal obligations.
Although the procedure was closed on 23 September, on 13 July, the construction company “EDIL AL-IT” sh.pk was a debtor in the Tax Directorate of the Big Taxpayer, with a value of 4,958,780 ALL and as such it could not be classified as a winner , if you did not pay off your obligations!
So the Ministry has broken the law and the responsible should be responsible!
The authority must verify the acts in the tender dossier and have the obligation to make transparent the qualifying documentation to understand whether the winners have deserved the classification as such.
Other information indicates that there are no other laws, as read below!
If we look at the trade registers of the winning companies “AGI KONS” sh.pk and “EDIL AL-IT” sh.pk, we note that on 22 September, that is, just one day before the official closure of the deadline for submitting documents, in both extracts of these companies, is added: “rehabilitation and reconstruction of architectural monuments of different categories”.
Such an action has been approved by the respective associations of companies (which, at first glance, suggests a license that did not exist before (this is also proven by the extracts review)!
Although such a practice is not reflected in the trade registers of other candidates, it is of interest the fact that the assemblies of both companies were collected on the same date: September 22, 2016! But the date 22 is the last day before submission of the tender documents!
A number of events and trials can not be so casual!
It is a deliberate action, likely, that may have played a key role in the outcome of the race!
Why, both winning companies, were registered at the NRC, just hours before the race was closed?
How can a license be obtained, just one day before a tender ?!
And why does not such a listing result in any of the other companies participating in the tender?
The real question is whether these construction companies really have experience in restoring or rehabilitating such buildings when it is known that NRC is merely a stock of commercial documents and does not necessarily reflect the real capacity of commercial companies?
Ministry of Culture, Mrs. Mirela Kumbaro Furxhi, as Titular of the Contracting Authority, should give a public explanation for this!
The Palace of Culture is a monumental and historical work.
Works on the start of construction were celebrated by Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet leader, who threw the first shovel there.
Further on, the Soviets designed the theater hall along with the relevant infrastructure, but when the building was over, relations with the Soviets were put on hold!
The new Opera and Ballet Hall was inaugurated in 1966 and since then no interference has been made. This is the first rehabilitation project, after the inauguration 60 years ago.
Albanian construction companies have no experience in designing or rehabilitating theater halls, but apparently the temptation of budget funds justifies any illegal and corrupt action.
It is inexplicable the way in which authorities select and conceive of urban development and design; volume dimensions and the concept of public space!
On the one hand, foreign companies are contracted for a toy (Compilation of the Master Plan for the Toys Corner in the Lake Park) and on the other hand only Albanian companies are involved, without any experience, for such specific works that would fully justify the development of possible for a competition with the presence of international companies and direct experience in the construction of theater halls!
Although “Albania has no experience in scenes construction”, as Mrs. the minister asserted a year ago in the Assembly, this did not prevent the authorities from leaving the design of these theaters to Albanian architectural studios, lacking full expertise in designing such halls.
We still do not have a public, preliminary study, on the concrete need of these theater halls. We still do not know what to expect at the end of the project implementation for their rehabilitation.
“The year 2016 for culture will be the year of great works!”
No doubt for the construction company “EDIL AL-IT” sh.pk, these words, namely the words of Mrs. Kumbaro, would have a prophetic sense, as tenders for the establishment of both national theaters were won by this company (the second, the TKOB Hall, as a joint venture) with a common financial value of about 1.3 billion ALL.
And indeed, the construction company “EDIL AL-IT” sh.pk has become a ‘yard!’
How is all this happening explained?
In fact, nothing is so casual, as long as the spouse of the minister is rewarded by these winners!
The husband of the Minister of Culture, Mirela Kumbaro Furxhi is an employee of Vizion Plus, whose shareholders are the partners of the construction company “EDIL AL-IT” sh.pk, that is, the same owners!
Thus, her husband’s payrolls benefit from her sumsome amount of public funds!
And the facts about a ‘factual conflict of interest’ can hardly be dismissed. Because this relationship, this interplay of interests is a scolding conflict of interest.
Mrs. Mirela Kumbaro Furxhi was enacted as a minister in September 2013, while her husband, with the quality ‘as a person associated with an official’, was employed on Vizion Plus television a year later, ie in October 2014.
Throughout 2015, the Ministry of Culture did not conduct any major public financial tender.
Tendering of the Theater of Opera and National Ensemble, as well as the tendering of the New National Theater Hall in 2016, were the first and “EDIL AL-IT” sh.pk, was declared winner in both!
Surprisingly, a few weeks ago, prosperity included the Kumbaro-Furrxhi family! The television program that the husband of the minister led to Vizion Plus, “won” my prime, a delightful generation for every member of the television community, although the marketing indicators did not justify such a decision!
According to the documents, the salary he earns from television reaches several million leks, several times greater than his wife who enjoys the status of a member of the government! For two years, the ministry’s family budget income was increased and Ms. Kumbaro-Furxhi was aware that her husband was working and receiving a salary from the same owners who were participating in public tenders organized by her institution!
Thus, some questions require answers.
How can her husband get such a high salary in a company that has no money to pay taxes?
Were the employers of the husband of the minister of culture favored as winners in the process of bidding Albanian tax funds?
Is not it a personal use of the taxes of the Albanians for mutually beneficial clientele?
There are many questions and a few answers!
In four years of power and propaganda, a minority clientele is robbing the Albanians’ taxes, hiding behind constructions, supposedly on behalf of the public good, without mentioning the inflated figures in relation to the near work!
This small group, this class of oligarchs is capturing everything, not just money, but also energy! She is taking courage, desire!
With this money, the oligarchs fund the media, volunteering in the service of politics and the power of plundering.
In four years of government, the prime minister has not violated any theater hall because he is not interested in the theater, but in the facade.
And perhaps, on the day of inauguration, the façade master under strong light will go to the stage to use it. So today it’s painted in bright colors: to hide the shadows covering the millions, exactly, in the name of this facade.
