Environmental Concerns and Opaque Ownership Structures

It's Consider This, where every day we go deep on one big news story today, how a controversial land grab has Albanians protesting corruption. Every day, since the beginning of June, thousands of Albanians have taken to the streets of the capital Tiran . They're angry about a proposed luxury resort along Albania's Adriatic coast, one that's linked to two people with close ties to the U. S. president, Ivanka Trump, the president's daughter, and her husb and, Jared Kushner. Albanians are angry at their government, which they accuse of letting wealthy Americans exploit their country , and allegations of corruption and illegal development are swirling around the project. Protesters are calling for Albania's prime minister to resign. We are here to protect Albanians from the corrupt, most corrupted government in the Europe an We are pro investments but, we are not to the corrupt government . Consider this. A luxury resort project with ties to Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump has become a flashpoint in Albanian politics. How do we get here? From NPR, I'm Wanna Summers It's consider this from NPR. The way Ivanka Trump tells it, she and her husband, Jared Kushner, were on a friend's boat years ago on the Adriatic Sea off the coast of Albania when they stopped for a swim. Effectively, that's how we found it. We swam to the islands, we went on a hike barefoot all the way up to the top, and we were just captivated. She spoke earlier this month to podc aster David Senra about a stretch of Albania's coastline where she and Kushner plan to build a luxury resort. Albania's government has given the project preliminary approval, but as NPR's Rob Schmidtz reports from theital Cap Tirana, the plans have prompted a growing protest movement against government corruption. Every day since the beginning of June, this is the scene outside Albanian Prime Minister Ed ama's office in Tirana. Thousands, calling on Ramada to resign over a strip of coastal land his government is helping President Trump's son in law, Jerich Kushner develop. Protester Edin Hoscher says the protests have evolved into a show of no confidence in the Albanian government . We're tired of these guys stealing from us, stealing our resources, selling things that are not there to sell . Things like Seizon, an uninhabited island across the sea from Svan, an styrizp of beach and cl iffs along Albania's Adriatic coast. In David Senra's podcast that aired earlier this month, Ivanka Trump described both plots of land as belonging to her and Kushner. Not only the island, but we have five miles of beachfront directly across from the island, this beautiful peninsula with a lagoon on one side, the ocean on the other , beautiful white sand beaches. In an episode called Ivanka Trump on building the authentic life, Trump told C enra that she and Kushner have helped, quote, realize the land's potential. For me, it feels more like a challenge than anything else. The culmination of all of my experience in real estate, all of my travel , a lot of reflection on how I want to live. But there are already tens of thousands living their lives on this land . Talk Bino stands along a dirt road separating wet land from fields of salt, glaringly white, sparkling in the sunlight. The ornithologist holds a pair of binoculars to his eyes and calls out the names of the local residents. This is a black wing stilt and then you see common turns and little turns just when you came it was a little eager grid and then flamingo. I saw at least one but should be more in the lagoon. There are two hundred fifty species of birds here in this nationally protected lagoon called Vioce Narte. Bino points across the water to a beach where a road for bulldozers has just been built. Birds are the first to suffer, but not only birds, they are already suffering because building an access road in the middle of the breeding season for a lot of species it's horrendous. Ivanka Trump says this project shows restraint and care for this pristine environment . But what we see from the project ideas we see tall buildings up to ten thousand rooms so all this is for sure a new city rather than an environmental based project. Environmental organizations have filed legal challenges against the Albanian government over this project. Dorian Matla is their lawyer. But the main problem here is the problem that this is a protected area. He says the land this resort would be built on is protected under the European Union's Natura two thousand, a network of protected areas in the EU . Albania is not an EU member, yet it's in the process of becoming one, and Matlia says it's subject to the network's rules. But two years ago, Prime Minister Rama ushered in a new law that stripped away the protection of this ecosystem , allowing for the construction of five star hotels. Madleya says this violates both Albanian and EU laws. So this is also endangering the long time dream of joining EU as well. So if somebody will try to go to the court against that, they have high chances of winning. And that's a big problem for the investors. Another problem for investors on june second, Albanian prosecutors froze the bank accounts of a firm that purchased land for this project. It's part of an investigation into fraudulent property titles, and it involves a company owned by theat arQi brothers Motaz and Rames El Kayat, who were helping finance and build Kushner and Trump's luxury resort. They did not respond to an NPR request for an interview. When NPR emailed Kushner's Affinity partners, a company called Suz anne Real Estate Development responded with a statement from Asher Abesera, a businessman Kushner has teamed up with to build projects in New York. Our focus, the statement said, remains on responsible stewardship, environmental enhancement , job creation, and creating long term value for local communities. The statement also said Kushner's Affinity Partners firm has no role in this project, and that quote partners are involved as investors in their personal capacity . Finding out who those investors are though has been difficult. From Albanian documents, it's impossible to find out. Lindita Cella is one of Albania's most decorated investigative journalists. For months, she's been tracking down a string of shell companies from Albania to the Netherlands connected to Kushner and Trump's project. You see for one company and you see that who owns this company is another company. If you go to this company and another one, you will find another one. The other companies still it brings to you not to their names but to another company. So you just need to go dig in dig, dig in. She likens her investigation to opening a set of Russian Matrioshka dolls, one leading to another . She's discovered several of the shell companies share the same address in Amsterdam. Each company is worth a single euro. They lead to the smallest Matrioskhidal, a company named Inter Royal BV, owned in part by a Russian citizen named Nikita Maximovich Finogradov and a Bulgarian citizen named Zoya Garjiva Girrova. Chella says neither individual has a public profile , but on paper at least, she says this mysterious pair owns hundreds of millions of dollars worth of Albanian property. Property where on a recent weekend, hundreds of Albanians converged to protest the project at the proposed site of the resort . thirty four year old software engineer Albi Patozi was among them. I don't want anyone to build here because this is our land, public land. It's for everybody, not for just a small one percent of people. Batozi says Prime Minister Eddie Rama treats this land like it's his to sell. And PR reached out to theime Pisrter who Min spo,sekesperson said in a statement, The government understands that major investments can generate public debate . It went on to say quote, The ambition is to create a new benchmark for sustainable Mediterranean development. Batoiz says Rama is a prime minis ter of one of Europe 's poorest countries who's obsessed with five star luxury projects. But we are living in a studio apartment. Albania is like a studio apartment that barely holds place for Albanians. Batozi says if Kushner and Trump build their resort here, it'll be coastline that'll be closed off to most Albanians. Rob Schmidtz and PR News, Albania . This episode was produced by Christine Arismith , Katherine Fink and Karen Zamora. It was edited by Hannah Block and Ten Beat Armius. Our interim executive producer is Courtney Dorning.