Post by Pascal Hetzscholdt

Quote: "The fence appeared in April. Topped with razor wire, it closed off Pishe Poro, a beach on Albania’s Adriatic coast that is part of the Vjosa-Narta Protected Landscape, an important stopover for migrating birds. At the site, covering more than 1.3 million square metres, a company called Zvernec South Adriatic Development plans to build a luxury tourist resort, and has a government permit to do so. Minella Balliu could hardly believe his eyes. The land is not for sale, he says, telling BIRN: “They have forcibly driven us off our property.” The fence around Pishe Poro marks the starting point of a plan to develop the Narta Lagoon, one of the last untouched parts of the Albanian coast. Zvernec South Adriatic Development is registered in the Netherlands as an offshore trust. While its ultimate beneficiaries have not been named, media reports in the US have linked the project to two Qatari billionaire brothers, and to Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of US President Donald Trump. But that’s not the whole story, BIRN can reveal. On the ground, according to documents obtained via Freedom of Information requests, the project involves a network of individuals and firms, among them a businessman accused of ties to the Italian mafia, a former judge who quit rather than face scrutiny over the origin of his assets, and individuals connected to one of the country’s most powerful business figures, Shefqet Kastrati. Albania’s National Council for Territory and Water, KKTU, chaired by Prime Minister Edi Rama, has issued the project a development permit, despite ongoing legal disputes over who actually owns the land that should be built on. “They don’t ask,” said Balliu, one of the claimants. “They have the power.”" Source: https://lnkd.in/eJAgAeTG