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Forged deeds probe
Albania’s anticorruption prosecution service is investigating whether deeds to a stretch of protected coastline earmarked for a Jared Kushner-backed resort were forged, according to case files compiled by the Special Structure Against Corruption and Organised Crime (SPAK) and reviewed by Reuters.
The files name Artur Shehu, a Miami-based businessman, as the seller who transferred the land to Albania Land Development in April, and prosecutors allege Shehu and associates funnelled proceeds from cocaine trafficking into Albanian property using falsified titles to disguise the money’s origin.
Prosecutors say they have since frozen roughly 110 million euros ($126m) tied to the sale in a notary’s account, while the case files run to 200 pages and were issued the same day SPAK unveiled separate arrest warrants for 20 people accused of narcotics trafficking and money laundering.
Shehu’s lawyer, Kujtim Cakrani, rejected the allegations outright, telling Reuters: “Nothing that has been alleged regarding Mr Artur Shehu’s character is true.”
Cakrani also said Shehu was neither a trafficker nor a document forger and argued the land was lawfully sold, adding that his client fled to the United States and won asylum in 1998 after gang violence killed his brother and uncle.
Lawyer denies, protests widen
Kujtim Cakrani told Reuters that “Nothing that has been alleged regarding Mr Artur Shehu’s character is true,” while he also argued Shehu was untroubled by the arrest warrant because it was widely assumed in Albania that prosecutors answered to political and business interests.
Reuters reported it found no evidence that Kushner, Sazan Real Estate Development or other backers of the resort knew of any suspicions surrounding Shehu when the land changed hands.
As the legal scrutiny intensified, the resort project continued to provoke months of street protests, with nightly rallies that began in May broadening into a movement demanding Prime Minister Edi Rama’s resignation over accusations of corruption.
A crackdown last week saw riot police deploy tear gas and water cannon against demonstrators outside parliament, injuring 15 officers and leading to 25 arrests, and a Tirana court freed 19 of those detained on Sunday while placing two under house arrest and ordering a dozen others to report periodically to judicial police.
Entela Koja, one of the protesters, said “this is a revolution against the big guys who want to use Albania like a playground for the rich.”
What’s at stake next
The investigation adds another legal complication to a project already facing sustained unrest over development on wetlands and beaches along Albania’s southern coast that are home to sea turtles and flamingos, with the latter adopted as a symbol by the self-styled “Flamingo Revolution.”
Reuters reported that villagers near the site have pursued a decade-long legal challenge to Shehu’s ownership claim, presenting title deeds and tax records they say establish that they are the rightful owners.
Nikolin Markpalaj, one of the landowners, told Al Jazeera: “I told them it would not be easy for them to take this land and enjoy someone else’s land and property. What is happening in this country is madness.”
The case files also frame the alleged conduct as part of a broader criminal scheme, with prosecutors alleging Shehu and associates trafficked South American cocaine into European ports and laundered the funds by investing in Albanian property using falsified titles.
While the files do not allege wrongdoing by Kushner, Sazan Real Estate Development, Albania Land Development, or other investors, the frozen funds and the arrest warrants for 20 people accused of narcotics trafficking and money laundering leave the resort’s timeline and legal exposure uncertain as SPAK continues its inquiry.
