Albanian villagers say Jared Kushner's projects developed on disputed land
Albanian villagers have revealed that the projects belonging to Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of US President Donald Trump, are being built on disputed land.
Kushner and his private equity firm Affinity Partners, along with his wife Ivanka Trump, plan to develop two resort properties in Albania, including on the uninhabited Sazan island and on the Albanian coast.
Media reports said on Saturday that some 200 Albanian families claim ownership of the land bought to develop the luxury resorts.
Some plan to seek a court order to halt the projects and take Kushner's company, Affinity Partners, to court.
Villagers say Kushner's projects are being developed on land approved by the Edi Rama government via sales through an accused gangster.
A dozen of the villages plan to seek a court order to halt the project, their lawyer, Kostandin Beko, told Reuters.
Beko said the villagers he represents were declared the rightful owners of the land by an Albanian court back in 2013.
However, the dispute has remained unresolved because that ruling was appealed by Artur Shehu, the man who has since sold the property.
Shehu, who fled Albania in 1999 and is now based in Miami, Florida, claimed his family owned the land for more than 100 years, from the time of the Ottoman Empire.
He has been investigated in Italy for allegedly doing business in his homeland on behalf of Italian gangsters, according to the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project.
The Italians are said to have also suspected him at one point of drug trafficking, though he has never been charged with a crime.
On Friday, Albanian media reported Shehu is now also under scrutiny by anti-corruption prosecutors there, probing large-scale money laundering.
A close associate of Shehu was charged and convicted in 2018 of forging documents to steal land.
Land disputes are common in Albania because of the poor record-keeping, its complex history, and the widespread corruption of Albanian government officials.
The planned resort is to be built near the western city of Vlora on the Adriatic coast.
Albanian villagers showed deeds and tax records, proving Kushner's controversial resorts are being constructed on protected land and a wildlife sanctuary, which is home to numerous animal species.
Continuous protests have raised concerns that the wildlife in the area, which includes flamingos and sea turtles, could be at risk from the projects.
Kushner's controversial luxury resorts are reminiscent of the notorious islands belonging to the convicted Zionist pedophile sex offender close to Trump's secret inner circle, Jeffrey Epstein.
Epstein owned two islands in the Caribbean where investigators say he brought young girls to be trafficked and sexually abused.
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