Bosnia-based engineering giant Energoinvest, which built an electricity grid between Albania and Kosovo, paid millions of euros to a small consulting firm based in the United Arab Emirates headed by an Albanian businessman with political ties, documents in possession of the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) show.

The 400-kilovolt transmission line between Albania and Kosovo only started operating last December. Funded through a loan from Germany's state-owned KfW Development Bank, a public procurement procedure for the Albanian section of the transmission line was launched in 2011.

However, based on a large number of leaked documents, the BIRN revealed that in 2013 Energoinvest paid over €3.6 million to a small consulting firm registered in the United Arab Emirates, with payments starting in March 2013.

The company in question is called AL Energy Transmission, and it is run by Albanian businessman Vasil Kallupi.

While this may not necessarily be illegal, experts warn that when money is diverted through so-called offshore zones or jurisdictions, the risk of corruption increases.

The BIRN's Detektor.ba portal further states that, During 2011, Energoinvest worked with Dalekovod company to build a 400-kilovolt line between Albania and Montenegro; between 2013 and 2016, the firm entered into a contract with OST to build a 110-kilovolt transmission line in southern Albania; while in 2020, together with the company “Koncar” from Croatia, “Energoinvest” received a contract worth €35 million for the construction of another high voltage line between Albania and Northern Macedonia.

AL Energy Transmission LTD was founded in March 2013 in Ras al-Khaimah, one of the seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates, through an offshore provider SFM Corporate Services.

The BIRN came into possession of the company's registration documents as part of a collection of documents known as the “Pandora papers,” which leaked to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and were shared with hundreds of journalists in 117 countries.

According to the documents, the “real owner” of the company is a woman named Jola Duro, a 40-year-old resident of the Albanian capital, Tirana.

“The company has one partner, Mr Vasil Kallupi,” the business plan states. Kallupi’s wife Deshira is Jole Duro’s aunt. Duro did not respond to a request for comment.

Documents available to the BIRN include a report from the bank account of AL Energy Transmission at Liechtenstein-based Bendura Bank for the period 2013-2019, which shows that Energoinvest made 39 payments to that company during the said period in a total value of over € 3.6 million.

Most of the money from that account was withdrawn to the travel cash card, but there were also transfers in the name of Vasil Kallupi, his wife Deshire, and their nephew Sokol Sferdelli.

Journalist and former publisher Ylli Rakipi said Kallupi is considered close to Fatos Nano, the leader of the Socialist Party who served as the Prime Minister of Albania between 1997 and 2005. After retiring, Nano moved to Vienna.