Albania's anti-corruption prosecution service is investigating whether the deeds to a stretch of protected coastline earmarked for a Jared Kushner-backed resort were forged, according to case files reviewed by Reuters. The probe adds another legal complication to a project that has already sparked months of street protests.
The files, compiled by the Special Structure Against Corruption and Organised Crime (SPAK), name Miami-based businessman Artur Shehu as the seller who transferred the land to Albania Land Development, the entity behind the Kushner-linked scheme, in April. Prosecutors allege Shehu and his associates funneled proceeds from cocaine trafficking into Albanian property, using falsified titles to disguise the money's origin, and have since frozen roughly 110 million euros ($126 million) tied to the sale in a notary's account.
Shehu's lawyer, Kujtim Cakrani, rejected the allegations outright. "Nothing that has been alleged regarding Mr Artur Shehu's character is true," he told Reuters, adding that his client was neither a trafficker nor a document forger and had lawfully sold land his family had held since Ottoman times. Cakrani said Shehu fled to the United States and won asylum in 1998 after gang violence killed his brother and uncle.
Reuters found no evidence that Kushner, Sazan Real Estate Development or other backers of the resort knew of any suspicions surrounding Shehu when the land changed hands. The development sits on wetlands and beaches along Albania's southern coast that are home to sea turtles and flamingos, the latter adopted as a symbol by the self-styled "Flamingo Revolution" against the resort and alleged government corruption.
Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump, have said the idea for the resort came to them after they spotted the coastline from a yacht. He unveiled renderings of hotels, villas and marinas on social media in 2024. Nightly rallies that began in May have broadened into a wider movement demanding Prime Minister Edi Rama's resignation over corruption accusations.
A crackdown last week saw riot police deploy tear gas and water cannon against demonstrators outside parliament, injuring 15 officers and leading to 25 arrests. A Tirana court freed 19 of those detained on Sunday, placing two under house arrest and ordering a dozen others to report periodically to judicial police. Protester Entela Koja said "this is a revolution against the big guys who want to use Albania like a playground for the rich."
Villagers near the site have separately pursued a decade-long legal challenge to Shehu's ownership claim. Landowner Nikolin Markpalaj told Al Jazeera: "I told them it would not be easy for them to take this land and enjoy someone else's land and property. What is happening in this country is madness." Rama's government has dismissed the protests as orchestrated by political rivals and insists the project complies with Albanian and European Union law.
Source: www.aljazeera.com