TIRANA, Dec. 7 – The Albanian Road Authority (ARA) announced Friday it has decided to suspend the construction activity of companies Biba X and DH Albania for the a part of the New Ring after the recent publication of facts that cast serious doubt on the document falsification of American company Dunwell Haberman, which won the tender bid through its DH Albania branch.
Meanwhile, the prosecution has already launched investigations, while the country’s opposition said the government’s theft and corruption has been proven through the facts that were revealed regarding the project.
According to documents published on the show “The Unexposed” on NEWS 24 TV and referring to the National Business Center, the US company claimed to have been established in US’ Delaware in June 1998.
In order to prove this, the company deposited at the Albanian National Business Center, a letter from Delaware Secretary of State Jeffrey Bullock that certified its activity in the country and its date of establishment as of 20 years ago.
“The documents you have submitted are not authentic and do not originate from the Delaware Secretary of State office. The companies’ status certification that the Corporate Department issues does not have the same content as the documents you sent us. Also, the documents you have submitted to us indicate that Dunwell Haberman LLC was created on 25 June, 1998,” the official answer read.
Further investigations conducted by Delaware State authorities proved the company branch in Albania was actually founded in July of this year, just shortly before the bid for the Great Ring construction opened in Albania. The US company also submitted to the National Business Centre financial balances and receipts, also allegedly falsified, as they belong to 2015, 2016 and 2017, before the company was established.
The ARA explained that the consortium Biba X and DH Albania had submitted the documents in conformity with the law and that “there was no indication that the authenticity of the submitted documents could lead to a preliminary verification procedure.”
Further on, the ARA made it known that “it will officially address the US authorities and if the fraud results to be true then it will unilaterally terminate the contract and will follow other procedures foreseen by the law. In case of contract termination, the ARA will immediately resume procurement procedures for this lot to enable timely completion of the project.”
Despite the ARA’s announcements, it remains highly suspicious how a company can, according to current allegations, undertake a forgery of such size without having a guarantee that no one will verify its activity.
In the Lot 1 contest for the New Ring project, the Albanian branch of the US company, DH Albania, was registered in Albania in July this year, while further investigations by the media showed its representative is an Albanian 26-year-old, Avdiol Dobi, who had no previous managerial skills and had worked as the receptionist of a private hospital in the capital, Tirana.
DH Albania and Biba X – the latter only has seven percent share in this consortium – won with a bid representing nearly 45 percent of the entire investment, or just over 18 million euros (excluding VAT).
Meanwhile, the prosecution initiated investigations of its own into the case after a complaint issued by residents of the New Ring project that are most affected by it, following the facts’ publication.
The prosecution’s investigations are currently centering on the Albanian representative of the company’s Albanian branch, Dobi, who also results to be the owner of a company founded in 2016 and headquartered in Vlora.
The opposition stated on Friday that its warnings concerning the corruption surrounding the New Ring Project were proven.
“It is now clear to all of you that the New Ring project is a robbery project, not a development project. It is not for the city of Tirana, it is not for people, but for Edi Rama’s project,” head of the opposition’s main Democratic Party Lulzim Basha said.
“The prosecution is now holding the corruption of the tender, is in possession of forged documents, has proof of well-thought corruption and of documents forged in the United States of America, so there is nothing it needs more to show its engagement,” head of the Socialist Movement for Integration Monika Kryemadhi said.
The revelation of these facts is of particular importance especially since, over the last month, construction of the Great Ring has caused massive protests from residents of the affected areas, who are worried they will be losing their houses without fair compensation offered by the government.
