From the Kufiri.com Investigative Staff
A group of individuals well-known for their involvement in suspicious economic activity has returned to center stage in the Albanian business scene, using a new company as a legal front to continue VAT fraud, fake invoicing, and tax evasion at scale.
According to verified sources, the network is built by former officials from the Tirana Tax Directorate and longtime collaborators tied to a scheme dating back to 2013. The company? DODUK SHPK — now operating in high-impact sectors like trade, construction, energy, and mining.
🧩 Same names, same strategy, just smarter
At the core of the revived network are:
- Mirgen Dervishi (former tax inspection chief)
- Laurent Vata (former tax employee)
- Mirjan Beneja (businessman previously linked to fake Chinese import-export firms)
In early 2024, just months after similar schemes were halted, they co-founded DODUK SHPK. Also involved is Everest Kazheli, a former ASHK employee and current official at the Agency for Property Treatment (ATP), with direct links to former ASHK Vlora director Reinard Metaj.
These connections raise serious concerns about whether the group is being protected by elements inside key institutions.
💸 €3.9 million in “consulting” from a ghost contractor, and Bankers Petroleum is involved
One of the most alarming facts is that between 2023 and 2024, Bankers Petroleum paid €3.9 million in invoices to Mirgen Dervishi, now operating as a self-employed individual.
Official records show no staff, no office, and no traceable services. The justification? “Consulting.”
Financial experts confirm this is a textbook case of artificial expense generation, used to reduce taxable profits and avoid VAT obligations.
This is a clear example of how a former tax insider is now helping one of Albania’s largest corporations bypass fiscal responsibilities without leaving fingerprints.
🧠Insider knowledge weaponized against the state
Mirgen Dervishi knows the system inside out. As a former tax audit sector chief, he mastered VAT refund schemes, invoicing loopholes, customs controls, and weak points in oversight.
Now, that same expertise is being used not to protect public funds, but to engineer corporate fraud — with help from known players like Vata and Beneja.
What we are witnessing is not a random scheme. It is an evolved fraud machine, sharper and better protected than ever before.
🏢 DODUK SHPK: A platform for fraud disguised as a business empire
DODUK SHPK was registered in early 2024 with an unusually broad scope for a newly formed company:
- Construction
- Wholesale and retail trade
- Import-export
- Mineral investments
- Natural resource exploitation
- Transportation
- Engineering and logistics
This multi-purpose platform fits perfectly for routing false invoices, laundering money, and simulating legal operations that hide illegal flows of capital.
⚠A direct threat to Albania’s economic integrity
This is no longer just a few corrupt individuals gaming the system. This is a structured group with:
- Deep roots in public institutions
- Insider knowledge of tax mechanics
- Direct access to international corporate clients
- The ability to damage the national budget and kill fair competition
The involvement of Bankers Petroleum takes this beyond small-scale fraud. It is now a scandal with regional and corporate implications.
🔚 Bottom line: New logo, same scheme, bigger danger
DODUK SHPK is not just a business. It is a mask for a network that never truly disappeared.
The names are the same. The tactics are familiar. Only the tools have changed — and the risk is even greater.
Regulators must act immediately, not just to audit transactions, but to investigate:
- Who is actually running the network
- Which institutions are enabling it
- What political forces might be shielding it
The Kufiri investigative desk has access to further evidence linking this group to shell companies, suspicious money flows, and even political actors at the highest levels of government.
