Three months after heavy machinery intervened in the Pishe Poro - Nartë protected area to pave the way for a construction site for the luxury resort linked to the son-in-law of the American president, the Vlora Prosecutor's Office announces that it has launched investigations into 4 charges.
In response to a request for information from BIRN, the Vlora Prosecutor's Office says it has registered criminal proceedings under no. 772.
"We inform you that the Prosecutor's Office at the First Instance Court of General Jurisdiction in Vlora has registered criminal proceedings no. 772 of 2026, for the criminal offense of 'Illegal construction', 'Damage to habitats in environmentally protected areas', 'Illegal logging' and 'Abuse of office," the response states.
But despite the fact that 3 months have passed since the intervention, the prosecution announced that there are still no persons under investigation for the charges. " This proceeding is under investigation and there is no name of the person under investigation registered in the criminal offenses register," the prosecution stated.
This is the second investigation related to the project. On June 10, the Special Court imposed a seizure on transactions worth 128 million euros for the sale and purchase of land in the area at the request of SPAK. The prosecution suspects money laundering, and has issued an arrest warrant for Artur Shehu, who is also suspected of having alienated ownership of the land where the project is being developed through forged documents. Shehu and 19 others are being investigated over what became widely known as the “Aruba Corporation”.
The works in the protected area were first documented by environmental activists in late April, later sparking one of the largest anti-government movements in the country since the 1990s, known as the “Flamingo Revolution.”
BIRN then found that the works, mainly paving roads within the protected area, a barbed wire fence and leveling the territory for the construction of a workers' camp, were based on an exchange of letters between the company “Zvërnec South Adriatic Development” and the Territorial Development Agency.
According to the document, the company was informed that the National Council for Territory and Water had granted it a permit for construction work on April 29, 2026, but it was also informed that the permit had not yet been signed and that the conditions of the decision were awaited.
The intervention immediately alarmed environmental organizations, PPNEA and AOS, which denounced the development as an illegal destruction of European Union priority habitats and natural monuments. Environmental organizations have charged that under the guise of “preparatory works”, a barbed wire fence was erected and excavators opened over 7.4 kilometers of new roads, cleared parts of the forest and built concrete bridges over vital canals connecting the lagoon to the sea. According to experts, this intervention has created irreparable damage by physically fragmenting the territory before the mandatory legal procedures were carried out and without an environmental study.
The government, including Prime Minister Edi Rama, initially defended the works by referring to them as developments on private land and preparatory works. Despite these initial claims months after the works were halted, in an attempt to defend the intervention, Rama said in an interview with British media outlet Channel 4 that the road through the protected area was built to help the community.
The developments in the area and the rape of a protesting resident served as the spark for one of the longest-running anti-government protests in the country. For more than two months, hundreds of thousands of Albanians have taken to the streets of Tirana and abroad to demand a halt to the project, the repeal of the controversial laws that enable it, and the resignation of Prime Minister Edi Rama.
The massive “Zvërnec Peninsula” project, announced in 2024 by Kushner, is being developed by the company “Zvërnec South Adriatic Development” sh.pk, which is registered in Qatar, just like its sister company Albania Land Development, which entered the process of purchasing the land. Both companies are ultimately owned by three companies, Assets Real Estate Ventures LLC, registered in Qatar with the ultimate beneficiaries being billionaire brothers Moutaz Al-Khayyat and Ramez Al-Khayyat, Global Travel Retails SA registered in Luxembourg, with unknown ownership, and JAMCO Global LLC registered in Delaware, also with unknown ownership. /Taken from Reporter.al
