Prague, June 28 (CTK) – The Czech police are looking into why the CEZ power utility, in which the state has a majority stake, sent a total of seven million euros to the private account of Kosovo lobbyist Nue Kalaj in 2009, daily Mlada fronta Dnes (MfD) writes today.
It writes that the money was transferred in two transactions at a time when Martin Roman headed CEZ.
Albanian authorities suspect that the money may have been used to bribe Albanian politicians and offices shortly after CEZ gained control of the Albanian power distributor, MfD writes.
“The police have turned to us with a question concerning this eight-year-old bank transaction. Because the matter is being investigated, we cannot provide further information on it. Nevertheless, we fully cooperate (with the police) as always,” CEZ spokesman Ladislav Kriz told MfD.
A commission of investigation of the Albanian parliament has been looking into the circumstances under which CEZ gained 76 percent in the distribution network, later renamed as CEZ Shperndarje, for 102 million euros in 2009, MfD writes.
The Albanian financial intelligence, which has come across the CEZ transaction, handed its findings to Czech colleagues from the Financial Analytical Unit, who filed a criminal complaint, MfD writes.
The investigation was launched in Albania after former president Sali Berisha, who was prime minister for many years, lost the election in 2013. The new government has decided to investigate the privatisation of the power distributor.
Kalaj claims that he prepared the ground for negotiations for CEZ. He told the Albanian server Panorama that he worked for CEZ “based on contractual and legal relations,” MfD writes.
It writes that according to the Albanian media, Kalaj knew prime minister Berisha’s son very well, but Kalaj dismisses this.
He got seven million euros to his account from CEZ at a time when he was no longer an economic adviser, and he withdrew it in cash, MfD writes.
It writes that CEZ left Albania in 2014 after it signed an agreement with Albania on settlement, according to which it will get back 100 million euros in annual instalments by 2018.
The agreement ended a dispute which erupted in January 2013 when CEZ Shperndarje’s licence was withdrawn because the utility did not allegedly secure power imports and did not invest in Albania’s distribution network, MfD writes.
Afterwards, CEZ launched an international arbitration and demanded a compensation for that its investment was not protected. The Czech Republic was ready to block Albania’s gaining the status of an EU candidate country, MfD writes.
