Details about meetings attended by Artur Shehu in Mallorca, Germany, Aruba and Belgium emerged through a European investigation conducted in 2019 into the criminal activities of the Osmani Clan.
The documents show that between January 24 and January 31, 2019, investigators conducted surveillance on a series of meetings held on the Caribbean island of Aruba involving a group of Albanians allegedly engaged in drug trafficking.
According to the prosecution file, the trips served a dual purpose. On one level, they were used to coordinate cartel logistics. Investigative material supplied by the Spanish authorities states that those involved were planning the “purchase, transportation and importation of large quantities of drugs into Europe”.
Aruba also served as a venue for discussions about investments in Albania. Belgian investigators cited by SPAK claimed that these investments enjoyed political backing in Tirana.
Belgian documents note that “these meetings appear to be related to real estate projects in Albania, potentially financed with illicit funds and supported by political authorities”.
To funnel vast proceeds from drug trafficking into the legitimate economy, the group allegedly put in place an extensive money laundering operation. The first phase, known as “placement”, involved moving cash generated by the drug trade through alternative transfer channels, including physical transportation routes and the informal hawala network.
The next step was the manipulation of property ownership records in order to illegally seize disputed land. Among the most blatant methods was the use of forged historical documents. In the case of land in Zvernec, Artur Shehu’s ownership claim was based on the “Daimi Register of 1318, entry No. 47”, an Ottoman-language document purportedly proving that his ancestor, Seit Ahmet Shehu, owned thousands of square metres of forest and grazing land.
Subsequent court proceedings found that the document submitted to support the restitution claim in this case had been forged and intentionally mistranslated in order to substantiate ownership rights.
According to the case file, once the properties had been secured, the new owners engaged in “repeated subdivisions and subsequent transfers of ownership, through sales, exchanges and other legal transactions, with the aim of obscuring their origin and making tracing more difficult.”
These plots were then transferred to development companies through negotiated arrangements, “thereby integrating and mixing illicit proceeds with legitimate revenues”, according to the prosecution.
According to prosecutors, this process was used in the development of luxury villas in Palasa and the multi-purpose Garden Building complex on Kavaja Street in Tirana, among other projects.
Investigations show that the Aruba meetings played a decisive role in shaping the future of dozens of projects that have since become prominent features of Tirana’s skyline and Albania’s coastline.
The Sky ECC revelations
