“Morava Resort”, the “game” of justice to save those who built without permission, falsified documents, cut down forests…

The “Montrelux” resort, which was also inaugurated by several ministers, was built without permission, in the most beautiful area of ​​Korça.

In fact, the original building had increased tenfold. After the successive denunciations of the show “Fiks Fare”, the Prosecutor’s Office of Korça and Tirana opened criminal proceedings. Businessmen, notaries, cadastre employees, etc. were charged.

But did they investigate and judge the persons responsible? A multitude of investigative actions have been carried out, voluminous files with entire bundles, testimonies, document seizures, expertise or even surveillance. But despite the fact that everyone claims that it was built without a permit for profit purposes, it was falsified to steal someone else’s property, fake documents were used, forests were cut down, still no one is responsible! The justice institutions have started the “game” to save businessmen, notaries, employees of the Cadastre, IMT, IKMT or anyone who knew about these constructions without permission, in the tourist area of ​​Korça.

He accepted a fake document, ping-pong with the notary Margena Çela

On April 12, 2021, the Prosecutor’s Office of Tirana sent the notary Margena Çela to trial, on the charge of “falsification of documents”. In the indictment it is written very clearly; “The notary has falsified, or has allowed, a notarial declaration to be made without the signature of the issuer of this declaration, therefore falsified”.

The crime, the charges write, was committed intentionally! The prosecution has proven that the notary Margena Çela was aware of some actions for the legalization of constructions without permission, but only in the name of one of the co-partners. Due to these doubts, the prosecution ordered the performance of graphic expertise, from which it resulted; “The writing, name surname, S.Bajraktari, was not written and signed by S.Bajraktari”. After ascertaining these facts, the prosecution took the defendant and sent the notary Margena Çela to the court.

Meanwhile, with a dubious decision and without the presence of the “victims”, judge Bedri Qori dismissed the charge against notary Margena Çela. Even without a trial, but only in a preliminary hearing. On December 3, 2021, judge Bedri Qori gave decision number 1250; “From the examination of the acts of the preliminary investigations, it appears that there is no forged document and therefore the court considers that the suspension of the criminal proceedings should be decided”.

In this decision, Judge Qori did not analyze the fake signatures or even the passport that was used in this statement, which had an expired date. In fact, the acts have been sent for technical and graphic expertise. The criminal experts, Vjolxhin Kuka and Durim Čako, have come to the conclusion that “the statement is falsified”.

In fact, in the decision, judge Bedri Qori based his decision-making on some acts/documents that are not part of the investigative file that the prosecution sent to the trial. He has accepted the request of the defense, analyzing a piece of evidence that was not brought to trial by the Prosecutor’s Office of Tirana, but was requested in another criminal proceeding by the Prosecutor’s Office of Korça. In the end, he decided to dismiss the charge against the notary, he is doing the trial! After this decision, the Prosecutor’s Office of Tirana addressed the Court of Appeal, writing that;

“The judge of the preliminary session exceeded his procedural position, conducting a substantive trial. The judge of the preliminary session violated the principle of sufficiency of evidence for sending the case to trial. The judge, dismissing the criminal case, on the grounds that the defendant did not commit the criminal offense for which she is accused, expressed her guilt. The judge of the preliminary session, expressing himself on the guilt of the defendant, has assumed the attributes of the court of foundation”.

The case went to the Court of Appeal, which decided to overturn the decision of judge Bedri Qori, ordering that the case be re-investigated! By proving that judge Qori, despite being a preliminary judge, received the attributes of the judge of the foundation. He even introduced evidence that was not presented by the Tirana prosecutor’s office.

The Court of Korça “hid” the first sentence of Arben Reli

Meanwhile, parallel to the investigations and trials in the Criminal Chamber of the Court of Tirana, 165 kilometers away, in the Prosecutor’s Office and Court of Korça, investigations and trials were held for the charge of construction without permission for the businessman Arben Reli.

According to a document dated December 23, 2021, the head of the Korça Prosecutor’s Office, Dhorina Theodhori, has completed the investigations for file 664 of the alienation of “Morava Resort” to “Montrelux”. The criminal proceedings began after the investigation of the show “Fiks Fare, on “Top Channel”. In the indictment, it is written that two charges have been filed: construction without permission and deforestation. In the meantime, the investigations for forgery of documents and misuse of duties continue!

“From the acts administered in the predicate material, it results that on July 8, 2020, on the national television ‘Top Channel’, the investigative show ‘Fiks Fare’, a case of abuse was published according to them in charge of the citizen Arben Reli, a builder who built in complex ‘Morava’ or ‘Montrelux’ additions without the relevant permission. After learning about this case, a number of preliminary investigative actions were carried out by the prosecution body. “Thus, after going to the ‘Morava’ or ‘Montrelux’ complex, the surveillance of the place under investigation was documented. From the inspection, it appears that there were fresh construction works, additions, warehouses, installation of gas plants, cutting of pine trees and pouring of concrete on top of them” it is said in the indictment. The prosecutor’s office writes that the opening of roads and a wall at a considerable distance were found. “In this place, metal scaffolds, which were placed for work, iron grills, etc., were also found” charges follow.

The investigations of the Korça Prosecutor’s Office have stopped at the name responsible, the businessman Arben Reli! He was taken as a defendant and two charges of “construction without permission” and “illegal cutting of forests” were communicated to him. But here’s what the first charge, that of building without a permit, article 199/ai of the Criminal Code, point 3 provides: And this offense, when it has serious consequences or is committed for the purpose of profit, is punishable by imprisonment from 3 to in 8 years. According to the file, the second charge against Arben Reli is “illegal cutting of forests, a charge which provides for a sentence of up to 1 year in prison.

The case went to the Court of Korça. On April 19, 2022, judge Seladin Pasqyli, after several hearings where he did not legitimize the other partner of “Morava Resort” S. Bajraktari as a victim, sentenced businessman Arben Reli to 1 year in prison for construction without permission. However, he converted this sentence into 200 hours of “public work”. ‘Fiks Fare’ provided the full decision of the yet-to-be-vetted judge Seladin Pasqyli, where on page 5 it is said that the proceedings have started since on July 8, 2020 the national television “Top Channel”, in the investigative show Fiks Fare, published a case of abuse by Arben Reli, who had built additions to the Morava or Montrelux complex without permission.

“The inspection showed that there were fresh construction works, additions, warehouses, installation of a gas plant, cutting of two pine trees and pouring concrete on top of them, opening of roads as well as mr at a considerable distance, metal scaffolding placed for work, grill iron, etc” it is said nç decision. It further states that a permit has been granted for your placement, but not for walls, bricks, concrete and mortar. But the strangest thing is that neither the employees of the Municipality of Korçë nor the employees of IKMT, the regional directorate in Korçë, have carried out inspections in that subject. The head of the IKMT of Korça, Enver Shahinasi, has stated that “due to the workload and the lack of staff, they could not carry out any checks”. In the decision, it is stated that the data was obtained from the CKB, from which it was found that Arben Reli created a business in his name in 2020, calling it “Montrelux”, but the verification showed that it is the same complex with “Morava Resort”.

On page 8 of the decision it is stated that; “Based on the preliminary declarations for the execution of works, approved by the decisions of the Korça Municipality, the defendant has continued the execution of the works as above, but has not adhered to the preliminary declarations. He has also built a perimeter wall and a concrete platform, surrounded by a wall, on which he has placed a gas deposit that supplies the resort’s heating plant. During the execution of the works, the employees of IKMT and the Municipality of Korçë did not do any control of the works”.

Judge Pisqyli writes that it is only about an unauthorized construction “platform for placing gas cylinders”. In this decision, it is said that an expert was contracted, who came to the conclusion that the construction of the surrounding wall and the platform of 58 square meters should have a construction permit. In the end, the judge writes that;

“The court reaches this conclusion, since we are in front of a construction carried out on state land, from which no serious consequences have come and the prosecution has not referred to any consequences. The construction was done in order to place the gas deposit, which supplies the heating plant of the resort, in which the defendant carries out commercial activity. It turns out that this gas deposit has been installed since the defendant started exercising the activity, but it did not meet the conditions of technical insurance. Based on this fact, in order to take technical security measures, due to the dangerous nature of the gas tank, the defendant built a concrete platform surrounded by a wall and placed the gas tank on it. It cannot be estimated that the platform for placing the gas deposit was built for the purpose of profit”.

So, all those constructions that the show “Fiks Fare” found were hidden from the justice bodies. Even the construction of the hotel rooms, as the owners of “Montrelux” themselves declared. At the end of the decision, judge Pisqyli decided to sentence the businessman Arben Reli to 1 year and 6 months in prison and in the application of the shortened trial he sentenced him to 1 year in prison. In the end, he converted this sentence to 200 hours of community service. But, in no case, neither the Prosecutor’s Office nor the Court of Korça have remembered that Arben Reli has been convicted before. Even, for the same charges, which would make the punishment heavier. In the decision, Judge Pisqyli writes that he is “not convicted”. This wrong conclusion of the judge and the prosecution has resulted in Reli being sentenced only to “voluntary work”.

Fiks Fare sent a request for information to the Probation Service, to ask if Mr. Arben Reli has been convicted or not. And, has he done Probation Service and if so, with what charge? After a few days, this service replied that: “At the Probation Service, on April 8, 2021, the execution order for the decision of the Court of Tirana in charge of Arben Reli was implemented. In this decision, he was convicted for self-judgment and falsification of documents, being sentenced to 9 months in prison. But, with a shortened trial, he was sentenced to 6 months in prison, while this decision was converted to put him on probation for a period of 12 months”.

So he was doomed! However, judge Pisqyli “hid it”. In fact, it is written in black and white that “the fact that the defendant is not convicted…”. In the reasoned decision, the judge stopped only at the placement of the gas deposit, or the wall. But the footage broadcast on Fiks Fare shows the opposite. It is about building hotel rooms. Meanwhile, after the decision of Judge Pisqyli, the editors of the show “Fiks Fare” have provided some videos from inside the premises that are being built. It is about the construction of tens of rooms. Exactly, in that place that the court says “is a gas deposit”. Now, do the views from all sides, even from the inside, “lie” or the “documents” administered by the court?