In 206 pages of "investigation essence", the Special Prosecution Office, SPAK, described the activities of the National Agency for the Information Society, AKSHI, revealing a well-organized criminal network in the embezzlement of hundreds of millions of euros in public tenders, including blackmail, hostage-taking and the implication of senior state and police officials in the country.
"From the investigations conducted, it results that citizens Ergys Agasi, Ermal Beqiri, Mirlinda Karçanaj, Hava Delibashi, Erion Ismaili, Andis Papa, Gëzim Hoxha, as well as other persons, in cooperation with each other in the form of a structured criminal group, have organized and implemented a scheme for the predetermination of winners in procurement procedures, carried out at the National Agency for the Information Society (NAIS), with the aim of illegally benefiting from public funds deriving from payments related to procured public contracts," states the file of the SPAK Special Prosecution Office, which Faktoje.al has at its disposal.
Arrest warrants have been issued for Agas and Beqiri on the charges of: "Illegal deprivation of liberty", "Illegal competition through violence", within a special formation, "Structured criminal group" and "committing criminal offenses by a criminal organization and a structured criminal group", but they have not been executed as they are suspected of having fled the country. The director of the National Anti-Corruption Agency, Mirlinda Karçanj, and her deputy, Hava Delibashi, are under house arrest, while businessmen Papa and Hoxha are banned from leaving the country, while the number two of the Tirana police, Erjon Ismaili, is suspended from duty and banned from leaving the country.
Just the beginning…!
Sources close to the investigative group told Faktoje that the file is still under investigation and three more factions have currently been opened, starting with the names suspected of being involved in a serious abuse scheme involving the National Agency for the Information Society.
There are dozens of hours of footage discussing affairs involving various people such as high-ranking state officials, police chiefs and businessmen linked to organized crime, controlling sensitive security data in the country. In a meeting on March 16, 2024 between Karçanaj, Beqiraj and Agas, the latter says: "The project costs 2 million, we will make it 4."
The conversations without ethical limits, where large sums of money are discussed about who will receive them and how they will be divided, are largely filmed (suspected by Agasi himself). "From the examination of the footage, a reasonable belief is created about the connections of interest that these citizens have with each other, which, from the analysis of the content of the transcribed conversations, creates a reasonable suspicion about the implementation of a criminal scheme in order to predetermine procurement procedures, create advantages and illegally benefit from them," the prosecution says.
scheme
Initially, the "prey" was found, a large amount of prosecution money under the AKSHI logo. Then, they prepared to grab every penny in the limit fund, while the "financier" Mirlinda Karçanaj, with the money from the state budget, was turned into the signatory for every tender in large amounts to go to the companies of controversial businessmen, Ermal Beqiraj and Ergys Agasi. The discussions took place in Agasi's office, where after talking about large amounts, they were accompanied by insulting, mocking and unethical language. Everything was documented, where Agasi himself had installed video-audio eavesdropping devices.
Paradoxically, the number one of the National Agency for the Information Society (AKSHI), Mirlinda Karçanaj, the longest-serving director of the Rama government, which is presumed to store every state digital data, even of security and special importance, ended up in Agas's office with her voice and image on surveillance cameras.
One of the few who became an obstacle, by appealing the tender procedures, businessman Gerond Meçe, director of the ABS company, was taken hostage and under threat, blackmail and violence, was forced to withdraw from 20 complaints within a few hours. According to the Special Prosecution, the number two of the Tirana Police, Erion Ismaili, is also suspected of being part of the threat, suggestion and blackmail. He is also a regular guest at Agas's office.
Hijacking
Any economic operator who complained about unfair disqualification from AKSHI tenders was "warned" by the trio Agasi, Beqiri and Director Karçanaj. "For disqualified economic operators, who have claimed their rights through official complaints to the Contracting Authority, but also to the Public Procurement Commission, violence, illegal deprivation of liberty was used to force them to withdraw from the complaints, but also from any procedure in which they participated in order to ensure the continuity of this scheme", says SPAK. The evidence is now quite strong with film footage, evidence of hostage-taking and movements that ultimately went in favor of the threateners.
REPORTING
On August 12, 2025, Gerond Meçe, the sole shareholder in the company “ABS” (a technology company), was taken hostage as he left his apartment heading for his vehicle. “We are SPAK, come with us,” a young man wearing a vest with the words “BKH” written on it tells him, and then three others wearing vests with the words “police” written on them (suspected to be counterfeit) put him in the vehicle and drove away.
Meçe does not put up any resistance but realizes that the people were not from the police or the BKH after they diverted the movement, taking the direction from Elbasan. In an abandoned apartment in the village of Gracen in Elbasan, Meçe is handcuffed and begins blackmailing, threatening with weapons and giving an ultimatum to immediately withdraw the complaints he had made against 20 tender procedures of the AKSHI and the KPP (Public Procurement Commission).
Within a few hours, Meçe instructed the company administrator to withdraw the complaints, and after making sure that everything was in order and that Meçe's company was in order, they let her go under the final threat: "We don't want problems from you, I don't want any complaints from you, otherwise we will kill you, wife, sister, mother, because you don't have a father...", is quoted in the SPAK file, according to Meçe's statements.
Where to complain?
But where could the "hostage taker" complain? Businessman Gerond Meçe had applied for 20 prosecutions with his company, but in each case he was disqualified and the AKSHI tenders were won in a series by the companies of Ergys Agas, Ermal Beqiraj and others close to them.
Meçe did not file a complaint with the police, also due to the fact that according to him, the deputy director of the Tirana Police had previously suggested to him: "Give up on AKSHI". Similarly, the other administrative appeal institution, the KPP, according to SPAK, has violated procedures in the case of Meçe's appeals and was also ready to quickly "accept" the withdrawal of the appeal, which corresponds to the day of his hostage taking.
"From this activity it is convincing that the KPP has rushed to accept the complaints of the EO (note: economic operators) "ABS" which they have taken by force in the circumstances described in this request, which means that this has been coordinated with the actions of the structured criminal group," the SPAK file states.
57 million euros in a few months
The prosecution has established a conviction based on evidence (films, audio conversations interwoven with documents) that the companies of Ermal Beqiri, Ergys Agas and other businessmen Gezim Hoxha and Andis Papa, in a period of 9 months, have secured tenders worth 57 million euros from AKSHI, on behalf of several institutions.
In one of the tenders, which has the description: “Improvement of economic assistance systems” is worth 226,460,451 lek excluding VAT. Paradoxically, a family on economic assistance does not receive more than 8 thousand lek per month, but over 226 million new lek have been given for “system improvement”. Among the other tenders with “red flags” are also some developed for other state institutions, including prisons.
"From the analysis of these procurement procedures, in harmony with the explanations of the employees of the company "EA Solution", the conviction is created that these procurement procedures are won by entities controlled by citizen Ermal Beqiri, in collaboration with citizen Andis Papa, whose profits are fictitiously transferred to the entity "EA Solution", owned by citizen Ergys Agasi", the prosecution emphasizes.
SPAK also, in its analysis of evidence, concludes that the tenders were manipulated to be won by Beqiraj's "Soft& Solution" company, Andis Papa's "Fastech" company, and Gëzim Hoxha's First sh.pk company./Faktoje.al/
