The Special Prosecutor’s Office in Albania announced that the Court had approved its request for the preventive seizure of some assets belonging to entrepreneur Ilir Rrapaj, the main shareholder of the company “Sani Service”, which won the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) contract for sterilizing surgical equipment in state hospital facilities years ago. The court decision was made on January 22, but it was only made public on February 8 by the Prosecutor’s Office.

Businessman Rrapaj was arrested last August along with former Deputy Minister of Health Klodian Rrjepaj, as well as a group of other officials, members of the commission that evaluated the offer for the sterilization contract. In November, the Prosecutor’s Office announced that former Minister of Health Ilir Beqaj was also under investigation, to whom security measures “Travel Ban” and “Compulsory Appearance” were communicated.

According to the announcement, a package of 40 percent of the shares of the company “Sani Service” has been seized, as well as the company “Investal LLC”, registered at the Business Agency in Kosovo, through which entrepreneur Rrapaj was involved in the consortium that won the concession. Another company “Globalsher”, where Rrapaj is the sole shareholder, has also been seized, along with its properties: an apartment, 13 vehicles, and two bank accounts, one of which had deposited over 285 thousand euros.

The sterilization concession was immediately surrounded by suspicions, controversies, and numerous scandals, as Rrapaj had just established his company “Investal LLC” in Pristina, while he had been living in Umbria, Italy, for years, where he managed a small construction company.

Further suspicions arose regarding the value of the contract, which was based on a certain number of surgical operations, increasing costs for the state budget. The winning company was also given a modern sterilization center, built at the Mother Teresa Hospital Center with government loans, but it was never put into operation.