What was loudly trumpeted by the government as the revival of the Albanian military industry and the reactivation of historical weapons production bases through the state-owned company KAYO sh.a., is turning into one of the biggest political and national security scandals.
The combination of recent wiretaps made public by former Deputy Prime Minister on the run Arben Ahmetaj, media investigations, official opposition requests for an investigative commission, and the key names involved—such as Israeli businessman Ron Yeffet and former Director of the State Police Ardi Veliu—has raised doubts about the mechanism behind this project.
The Architecture of KAYO and the Partnership Scheme with the Private Sector
KAYO sh.a. was approved by a special law by parliament as the sovereign instrument of the state to enter the defense industry. However, the operational scheme built upon this structure involves the creation of joint ventures with private operators.
The main link involves the company Timak (with Arjeta Puca as the primary shareholder) and the establishment of Timak Defence, where the private party controls 80% of the shares, while the state through KAYO holds only 20%. In parallel with this scheme, other related entities have been registered, such as TIMAK AVIATION or UNO18, building a parallel network focused on the production, modification, and licensing of military vehicles and arms trade.
These data have led various journalists and experts to raise suspicions that the name and weight of the Albanian state are merely being used as a facade of legal guarantee so that private individual Ron Yeffet, a close friend of Prime Minister Edi Rama, is granted assets, lands, shooting ranges, and customs facilities for pure private profits.
The “Ron Yeffet” File: The Shadow Businessman and Wiretaps Released by Ahmetaj
Israeli businessman Ron Yeffet turns out to be the most contested figure in this scandal. Ahmetaj, in his latest television appearance on Syri Television, called the “KAYO concept” a scheme of a criminal nature and claimed that Yeffet enjoys direct acquaintance and support from Prime Minister Edi Rama dating back to 2008.
Ahmetaj published parts of an ambient wiretap where Yeffet is alleged to be communicating with Ukrainian-speaking and Russian-speaking characters (identified as Igor and Sergei), in conversations where weapons, ammunition, logistics, and the exploitation of Albania as a springboard or transit hub are mentioned.
Previous media reports and denunciations made public by opposition MPs have exposed the financial margins, which visibly favor the American-Israeli friend. Yeffet invested minimal initial figures, around 450 thousand euros, to gain access to tenders, public contracts, and projects worth tens of millions of euros in the field of security and defense. So far, according to denunciations, he is suspected of having benefited 11 million euros.
The Role of Ardi Veliu, from Police Leadership to the Management of Military Assets
The appointment of Ardi Veliu to head KAYO sh.a. seems not to be an accidental administrative choice. The former General Director of the State Police, former head of the Police Oversight Agency (AMP), and former Deputy Minister of Infrastructure, is considered by the opposition and critical voices as a loyal figure of Prime Minister Rama, used whenever hot areas of interest need to be managed.
Critics raise suspicions that managing KAYO required a person with complete control over security channels, licensing procedures for weapons import-export, and relations with law enforcement agencies, in order to guarantee the closure of the decision-making loop within a tight political circle.
Targeting Strategic Assets: Delvina and Vlora
According to denunciations made public by former Deputy Prime Minister Ahmetaj and press investigations, the ambition of the scheme does not stop at assembling a few military armored vehicles.
The claims raised speak of attempts at appropriation or involvement in gas field projects in Delvina under the pretext of strategic and energy security.
Ahmetaj denounced plans to use shell companies with the participation of foreign partners to seize property assets of the Ministry of Defense and strategic territories along the coastline, alienating them in the name of the needs of military or support infrastructure.
The denunciations produced an immediate reaction. 39 opposition MPs submitted a request for the immediate establishment of a Parliamentary Investigative Commission, emphasizing the risk of undermining national security, border control, and Albania’s obligations as a NATO member state.
The government remained silent. But in several media appearances, KAYO leaders, such as Ardi Veliu and Arjeta Puca, defended KAYO’s projects as modernization of domestic defense capabilities and job creation. A minister without portfolio of the government dismissed Ahmetaj’s denunciations.
The entire KAYO file, from the contracts with Timak to the role of Ron Yeffet and the decision-making of Ardi Veliu, now remains a trial by fire for SPAK, which has before it not only the testimony of the former government number two, but a chain of corporate and customs documents that require point-by-point legal verification.
Ron Yeffet, the Wiretap That Could Burn the “Dirty Work” Guy
Court documents and media investigations have revealed that behind the profile of the businessman presented in Albania as a strategic investor in defense lies a long chain of lawsuits for financial fraud, misappropriation of property, and alarms raised within international security structures.
Lawsuit in the US and the Use of Edi Rama as Credibility Bait
Ron Yeffet’s biggest legal battle is taking place in the Miami-Dade County Court in Florida. Former American energy trader Mark Faist has sued Yeffet and his company R&I Trading for fraudulent misappropriation of over 8.6 million dollars intended for investments in New York real estate. According to the lawsuit, the money disappeared and Yeffet returned neither the profits nor the capital.
Faist’s lawsuit contains compromising details. He claims that Yeffet convinced him to invest by selling his connections at the highest levels of power. Mentioned in the file is a private jet flight to Paris in 2020 (at the height of pandemic restrictions), where Yeffet introduced the American investor directly to Prime Minister Edi Rama and the Albanian ambassador, to prove to him that he was a man of global influence.
In his legal response in Miami, Yeffet’s lawyers indirectly admitted influence in Tirana, claiming that the negative publicity from Faist’s lawsuit caused him financial damage of about 30 million dollars from his exclusion from major construction projects in Albania.
The Togo Embassy Building Scandal in New York and the Attempt on the Albanian Embassy Building in the US
Before focusing on Albania, Yeffet was involved in a legal process with the African state of Togo in New York courts. Through the company 40-th Development LLC (co-owned with his father, Isaac Yeffet, and partner Adam Gordon), he entered into an agreement with the government of Togo to demolish the building of their diplomatic mission near the UN and build two new towers.
According to the lawsuit by the state of Togo, after the company took ownership of the building and demolished it, the land was mortgaged to a bank to secure loans, while the construction of the towers was never carried out, leaving the diplomatic mission without a headquarters.
This precedent was brought back into focus in Tirana, recalling that a similar tower scheme had once been proposed for the Albanian embassy building in the US as well, a project that was rejected at the time by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Security Concerns with NATO and NSPA
The involvement of a figure with this history at the heart of the Albanian military industry carries severe implications with allies. The NATO Support and Procurement Agency has rigorous vetting (background check) protocols for certifying companies that trade weapons, ammunition, and military spare parts. Bringing Yeffet in through Timak Defence and Advanced Arms Technology into KAYO’s projects creates the risk of disqualifying Albania from trusted alliance partnerships.
The mention in Ahmetaj’s wiretaps of characters from the former Soviet sphere (Russia/Ukraine) in conversations regarding supplies and weapons trade raises suspicions within Western intelligence agencies about Albania being used as an uncontrolled transit route, in complete violation of embargos and strict NATO oversight.
The opposition has officially requested the Special Prosecution Office (SPAK) to send urgent letters rogatory to the US and toward NATO structures to obtain records on the financial past, alleged frauds, and precedents of companies linked to Yeffet.
Ron Yeffet’s international legal profile proves that we are dealing with a character exposed to lawsuits for multi-million dollar fraud in the US and scandals involving diplomatic properties, further deepening the mystery of how the doors of the security industry and strategic armament in Albania were opened to him. || GazetaAlbania.com
