A photo of a box filled with bundles of 50-euro bills has surfaced in the prosecutors’ file against Belinda Balluku, Albania’s former deputy prime minister.
Prosecutors say the photo was taken at a villa in the White Rocks resort in Dhërmi, on Albania’s southern coast. They say the villa belongs to Balluku in secret.
The photo is part of the file of the Special Prosecution Office Against Corruption and Organized Crime, known by its Albanian acronym, SPAK.
Balluku is charged alongside other officials and businessmen. She faces five charges, including corruption, concealing assets, money laundering and rigging public tenders.
Prosecutors did not find the box of cash at the villa. They found the photo on the seized phone of the husband of Balluku’s cleaner. According to the documents, he sent it as a WhatsApp message on the morning of July 17, 2021.
The photo shows a red box holding bundles of 50-euro bills wrapped in rubber bands. SPAK says the box appears to be inside villa F6 at White Rocks. The file does not say how much cash is in the box.
What prosecutors say about the villa
The villa is a two-story, 1,100-square-foot home on a lot of at least 3,200 square feet. SPAK values it at 720,000 euros.
On paper, it belongs to Igli Tare, a former Albanian national team soccer player. Prosecutors say Balluku used it from June 2019 until at least February or March of this year, when it was seized.
Messages among Balluku’s former staff, her driver and her cleaning workers called the building “the boss’s villa,” according to the file. SPAK also says her cellphone was tracked to the resort in 2024, 2025 and 2026.
Prosecutors allege the villa was a bribe from a construction company, Eurocol. They say Balluku steered a public tender to the firm while she ran Albcontrol, a state-owned air navigation company, before she became a government minister.
The Special Court of Appeals upheld the seizure, even though Tare challenged it as the owner. Tare is himself under investigation for money laundering in the case.
The Dhërmi villa is one of two coastal properties prosecutors consider hidden assets of Balluku. They allege both were obtained through corruption.
Who Balluku is, and the case against her
Balluku was one of the most powerful members of Prime Minister Edi Rama’s government. She served as deputy prime minister and also ran the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy, which oversees major road and construction projects.
The case against her began in the fall of 2025. SPAK formally charged her on Oct. 31, 2025, with violating equality among bidders in public tenders, in connection with the Llogara Tunnel. The tunnel, on the highway between the cities of Vlora and Saranda, is a project worth about 190 million euros. A special court then suspended her from her government duties and barred her from leaving the country.
Rama dismissed her in a cabinet reshuffle on Feb. 26, 2026. He had defended her before that, and the Socialist majority in parliament voted against SPAK’s request to lift her immunity so she could be arrested. That vote took place on March 12, which is why she remains under investigation with a travel ban but has not been arrested.
The investigation grew over time. It now covers nine public tenders, including the Llogara Tunnel, seven sections of Tirana’s Great Ring Road and work for Albcontrol, as well as the two coastal villas. It names 31 defendants. On Oct. 28, SPAK told Balluku that its investigation had ended and that the file was ready for trial.
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