The acting mayor of Himara Municipality, Jorgo Goro, was arrested on Saturday afternoon on suspicion of allowing irregular registration of two pieces of coastal property through forged documents, which, after several transactions, were transferred to entrepreneur Artan Gaçi, the spouse of former Foreign Minister Olta Xhaçka, to build a tourist complex on the coast of Dhërmi.
Investigations into this case began following a report made in August by the elected mayor of Himara, Fredi Beleri, who had been sentenced a few weeks earlier by the Special Court on charges of election corruption. According to the report, Goro forwarded completely forged documents to the former Vlora Regional Directorate of Immovable Property Registration Office in the name of a resident of Himara (Foto Pavli Mëhilli) through procedures and forged documents.
An arrest warrant has also been issued for Stavri Mëhilli, the heir of the property. Meanwhile, two officials from the Cadaster in Vlora have been placed under house arrest. An arrest warrant has been issued for the Director of the Land Defense and Management Directorate in Himara Municipality, Jerasimo Bashi.
The elected mayor of Himara claimed a series of forgeries on the reported area, from the fact that it did not belong to the Mëhilli family, to its registration as land, while it was part of the agricultural fund. According to Beleri, “the cadastral number of the parcel specified in the Act of Land Acquisition into Ownership, for an area of 5,512 square meters, specifically with number 36/36/1, does not match any of the cadastral numbers on the cadastral map, based on which the division of agricultural land was made, which reflects the plots and the agricultural land fund of the cooperative of Gjilek-Dhërmi village at the time, a map that Himara Municipality possesses.”
According to the Special Prosecutor’s Office, Goro “in two different episodes has committed acts contrary to the law. In collaboration with the Municipality Director, Jerasimo Bashi, without making any concrete verification according to legal obligations, they have forwarded completely forged documents to the competent authorities, making it possible later to register an area of 5,512 square meters of agricultural land in state ownership, in favor of a private entity. This land area located in Dhërmi, Vlora, after registration in public records thanks to the unlawful actions of responsible individuals (the two Vlora Cadaster officials), has been transferred in favor of a private entity, depriving the state of its ownership.”
According to the Special Prosecutor’s Office, “this transfer was accompanied by unjust enrichment for another citizen under investigation, Stavri Mëhilli.” The latter, according to the Special Prosecutor’s Office, “has used more than once, with several institutions as well as procedural authorities, forged documents and forms, actions which later resulted in the initial registration in the name of Foto Mëhilli of an agricultural land area of 5,512 square meters, located in Dhërmi, Vlora. After the registration of the property in the name of the heirs, including the citizens under investigation, transactions were carried out which concluded in the registration of the property in the name of the private company represented by citizen Artan Gaçi.”
Gaçi is also one of the individuals accused by Beleri, who claims that all practices aimed at transferring the land area to the spouse of the former minister, including it as part of the area where he has started to build a tourist complex. Last October, the Special Prosecutor’s Office announced that this area was placed under seizure by the Special Court. Xhaçka reacted at the time, stating that it was a measure taken “to investigate the origin of a private property since 1994”. Gaçi and Goro, meanwhile, were questioned by the Special Prosecutor’s Office.
But it seems that the problems are not only with this part of the land where Gaçi has invested, but also on another part of the area, where Goro has transferred land to state ownership through forgeries.
“In his capacity as Mayor of Himara Municipality, in another episode of the same criminal proceeding, Goro has committed acts contrary to the law. In collaboration with Director Bashi, he has carried out with concrete actions the actual transfer in terrain of an area of agricultural land of 5,080 square meters, assigning it to another property in state ownership. The citizen under investigation has exceeded all competences recognized by law, expressing the existence of an unauthorized property overlap on the terrain and then confirming a settlement plan, which appears to have served not only for subsequent transactions between different subjects but also for the development of the property, including obtaining a construction permit for a tourist complex in the name of a commercial company, which will be built on both mentioned areas that are contiguous (10,592 square meters),” explained the statement from the Special Prosecutor’s Office.
The construction of the tourist complex by Gaçi had earlier been a subject of political debate in parliament. The spouse of the former minister had obtained the status of a strategic investor. This fact, according to the opposition, constituted a conflict of interest, and for this reason, they demanded the termination of the mandate of the deputy for Xhaçka. The Socialist majority did not accept the request. The issue ended up in the Constitutional Court, which deemed the parliament’s decision wrong and ordered the case to be presented for review. But although more than a year has passed, the issue has been delayed by the leftist majority, and it has not yet reached the Court.
