A shadowy name appearing in SPAK’s files

In the latest documents obtained from the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecution Office (SPAK), a name that hasn’t escaped the attention of economic and investigative media resurfaces at the center of one of the most high-profile cases: the one involving Ilir Meta and Monika Kryemadhi.

Marin Gjonaj, owner of the company Info Telecom, is mentioned as one of the technical links through which the foreign company UNIFI entered the Albanian market under suspicious circumstances, using the direct influence of Kryemadhi and the mediation of her cousin, Adrian Shatku.

The role of Info Telecom and the link to Kryemadhi

Marin Gjonaj’s testimony is one of the elements that strengthens SPAK’s charges of unlawful influence and favoritism toward a foreign company for clientelist interests.

In the file, he is described as the person who enabled the technical connection of UNIFI with a local operator through Info Telecom – his company, which has a long-standing history in the international call transit sector.

Confidential sources from the investigation team confirm that Gjonaj admitted to receiving a request for assistance from Adrian Shatku – a person SPAK identifies as a “direct familial and political connection” of Kryemadhi and Meta.

From telecom corridors to public funds and solar energy

But Gjonaj’s activity does not stop with telecommunications.

In July 2024, the National Territorial Council granted a construction permit for a 100 MW photovoltaic park in Mallakastër to the company Greennat Solar Park Ballsh, where Gjonaj is the real owner through the company Infotelecom-Albsolar 3.

Ironically, while SPAK was investigating the political influence behind UNIFI’s market entry, the state was simultaneously granting the same individual direct access to natural resources and solar energy subsidies.

It doesn’t end there: another company linked to him, Ener Trade, founded in 2018, is among the top beneficiaries of public funds in the energy procurement sector.

This makes Marin Gjonaj one of the new “silent” oligarchs, accumulating state contracts in strategic sectors through a complex web of companies.

Cryptocurrency and the Fllakë scandal

In 2022, Albanian police issued an arrest warrant for Marin Gjonaj after illegal Bitcoin mining farms were discovered on his properties in Fllakë and Shijak, using extraordinary amounts of energy and blatantly violating fiscal and energy legislation.

However, as often happens in Albania, Gjonaj evaded arrest, while some of his employees were temporarily detained.

His involvement in this sector was far from sporadic: Gjonaj has registered three different companies called “Crypto World,” specializing in crypto mining, equipment import, and digital transactions.

Marin Gjonaj’s silent empire

Marin Gjonaj owns or holds shares in a range of companies spanning energy, technology, construction, brokerage, cryptocurrencies, and financial investments. Some of them include:

• DIGICom – electronic communications
• ProBroker – real estate brokerage
• ETMT – renewable energy
• Crypto World 1, 2, and 3 – cryptocurrency mining
• Gjonaj Group Holdings – stock and bond investments

This portfolio paints the picture of a businessman who hasn’t just built a company, but an entire parallel economic system, where real activity, political backing, and public money intertwine.

What is SPAK not investigating?

While SPAK investigates Gjonaj’s ties with Kryemadhi and Shatku, it remains unclear why a full criminal investigation has not yet been launched against Gjonaj himself, who has been implicated in several past incidents with potential criminal elements, including:

• Abuses of electricity for mining purposes
• Suspicious links with state energy operators
• Fast-track permits for solar parks
• Mediation for foreign companies through political influence

Conclusion: A textbook case of an oligarch in the era of institutional corruption

The case of Marin Gjonaj is the clearest evidence of how business, politics, and systemic corruption are intertwined in Albania. He is one of the freshest examples of sophisticated clientelism, where those who operate in the shadows often wield more power than those in the public eye.

SPAK holds a crucial knot in its hands: will it stop at Shatku and Kryemadhi, or will it follow the money and the contracts all the way to Marin Gjonaj – the silent oligarch controlling a technological, energy, and digital empire at the heart of Albanian corruption?

This investigation is part of the “Publik Enemy” series, which exposes the dark ties between politics and business in Albania.