President Donald Trump’s daughter and son-in-law, Ivanka and Jared Trump, are embroiled in a fierce controversy over their planned resort in Albania. Locals previously claimed that it will irreversibly destroy the area’s beloved wildlife and increase an oligarchical presence in their country. Now they are adding another accusation — namely, that the person who sold the Trumps that land never owned it in the first place.
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“The disputed property was sold by Artur Shehu, a businessman who has claimed his family’s ownership dates back to the Ottoman Empire,” reported RadarOnline.com’s Olivia Salamone on Sunday, citing a story from Reuters. “According to the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, Shehu has previously been investigated by Italian authorities over alleged ties to organized crime. Italian prosecutors reportedly suspected him of drug trafficking at one point but never filed charges, citing insufficient evidence.”
Salamone added, “Albanian media have also reported that anti-corruption prosecutors are examining allegations of large-scale money laundering. Shehu has denied wrongdoing and recently insisted on television that his ownership claim to the land is ‘undisputed.’”
The Trumps themselves have not been accused of any wrongdoing regarding who initially owned the land. The protesters instead accuse them of disregarding the wishes of the public regarding ecological preservation and of planning a resort that would price out most of the locals.
“The couple plans to develop a $1.4 billion luxury resort on the uninhabited island of Sazan, alongside a larger hotel development along the nearby Zvërnec coastline reportedly worth billions more,” Salamone reported. “Albanian officials have stated that the land involved in the project is privately owned.”
Earlier this month the UK-based media outlet the Independent broke down exactly how the controversial Albanian project materialized in the first place.
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“Albania’s government champions the Adriatic Coast development as a transformative venture for the nation, aiming to boost its high-end tourism sector and support its bid for European Union membership,” reporter Zana Cimili wrote. “However, the project, which encompasses an abandoned island and a stretch of seafront on Albania’s southern coast, has sparked criticism from environmental groups and detractors of the long-serving Socialist Prime Minister, Edi Rama.”
Cimili added that an investment firm “linked to Kushner” has “been granted special investor status by Albanian authorities.”
Despite Trump and Kushner arguing that their project is not disrupting the nearby communities, one protester was physically manhandled by the assigned security personnel, arousing significant controversy. Additionally, locals confirm that construction has already begun despite the project’s legitimacy being highly disputed.
“Since late May,” Cimili wrote, “excavators and other heavy machinery have entered the area, opening access routes, digging into the sand, clearing land among pine trees and installing fencing, Environmental groups from Albania and elsewhere in Europe condemned the work, with one prominent local group charging that long-protected habitats are being ‘irreversibly destroyed’…. Albania’s state anti-corruption agency has confirmed it opened an investigation related to the project but has not disclosed details.”
Cimili concluded, “The government says the land earmarked for the project is privately owned. But competing claims have emerged questioning the privatization — a common type of legal dispute.”
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