French media reports that on Saturday, August 1, Albania requested the extradition of Ermal Beqiri from Paris. The businessman was arrested after flying his private plane over a French nuclear power plant. In Albania, he is being investigated for the scandal surrounding the AKSHI tenders, where SPAK alleges he benefited from millions of euros in fixed competitions.
Ermal Beqiri was arrested last Saturday at Albert airport in northern France, after flying over the Penly nuclear power plant (Seine-Maritime) in a light aircraft, which is one of the sites chosen by the government for the construction of 6 new-generation EPR2 nuclear reactors.
For this he was immediately tried and sentenced in Amiens to a fine of 7,000 euros. He was then placed in custody pending extradition proceedings, according to the French prosecutor's office.
“The 44-year-old entrepreneur has been prosecuted in Albania since 2025 for his alleged role in a wide-ranging corruption scandal linked to fraudulent tenders worth millions of euros. Albanian authorities suspect him of organized fraud and had issued an arrest warrant for him.
On his LinkedIn profile, Ermal Beqiri posted a photo of himself with French President Emmanuel Macron last year.
According to Spak, "further investigations carried out by the French authorities have [...] made it possible to identify several assets of criminal origin" belonging to Ermal Beqiri on French territory" - quoted by French media.
The Albanian prosecution mentions in particular "bank accounts with a total amount exceeding two million euros, two apartments", "a tourist plane", "cars", as well as a "castle in the Oise department (north)", a "purchase" estimated at "approximately 2.6 million euros".
The Central Office for the Suppression of Major Financial Crime (OCRGDF), which conducted the investigation in France, "has prepared, in coordination with the French and Albanian judicial authorities, measures to seize" the identified assets, according to the Spak press release.
According to the French prosecutor's office, the extradition procedure could take "several weeks." ©LAPSI.al
