Yeffet is not Rama’s only acquaintance in Israel’s business community. Businessman Sani Sanilevich, who serves as the Honorary Consul of Albania in Israel, is also close to him and is active in Albania, where he is working to establish a hospital.
During Rama’s last visit to Israel, five months ago, he was a guest of Sanilevich. Rama traveled to Israel on a chartered plane paid for by Sanilevich’s business partner, businessman Tzachi Nachmias.
An investigation published by the Albanian media Reporter.al revealed that the flight to Israel was not paid for by the Albanian government. Rama explained that his visit to Israel included “security-related elements”, however it remains unknown who ultimately paid for the flight.
Rama is a frequent guest at Yeffet’s large estate in Albania, while Yeffet has business interests in real estate, infrastructure and defense in the country. More importantly, a company owned by Yeffet is a partner of the Albanian state-owned defense company Kayo.
Yeffet joined forces with Kayo to set up a manufacturing plant in Albania that produces armored vehicles, fire engines, ambulances and garbage trucks. The joint venture sells its products to Albanian government ministries, as well as African countries and other NATO member states.
Yeffet is not Kayo’s only Israeli connection. Last November, Haaretz revealed that Elbit Systems would supply Albania with advanced artillery and drone systems in cooperation with Kayo, which will set up a factory to produce these systems. In April 2025, foreign media reported that Elbit would establish a flight school in Albania.
The business relationships and partnerships involving Yeffet, Rama and the Albanian government have generated numerous reports in the Albanian media, which have criticized the two men. Arben Ahmetaj, who served as Albania’s deputy prime minister until 2022, stated in an interview in January 2026 that what he called the “Kayo Project” was “a corrupt project involving the transfer of Albanian state assets into private hands.”
Ahmetaj also claimed that Yeffet had been involved in business dealings with Air Albania and had sought to buy the country’s national debt. In April of this year, Belind Kelliçi, deputy of the Democratic Party of Albania, the main opposition party in the country, went even further. He stated that the fact that Ron Yeffet’s company, R&I Trading, is accused of fraud in a civil court case still in development, “threatens Albania’s position within NATO and the security of the entire North Atlantic Alliance.”
He was referring to a lawsuit filed in a Florida court by American businessman Mark Faist, who alleges Yeffet used his relationship with Rama — even promising him a meeting with the prime minister — to mislead him about investment opportunities offered by R&I.
To date, these accusations against Yeffet have not led to any official investigation, and it is doubtful that a civil suit in Florida, involving only a few million dollars, could pose any threat to Albania’s security, much less to NATO. However, the close relationship between business and political power that has developed between Yeff and Rama may now intersect with public protests against the Kushner project and, ultimately, jeopardize Rama’s hold on power.
Yeffet himself answered in a conversation with the newspaper: “I have absolutely no connection with Air Albania. Opposition figures in Albania are using me and other businessmen as tools to attack and harm their prime minister.”
The Albanian Government Office reacted by stating: “There are so many absurd claims in the public discourse in Albania that to answer each of them is not only impossible, but it would be absurd itself. Kayo is a state-owned company created according to international standards with the aim of cooperation with the private sector in the public interest. The accusations against it show how easily the word ‘corruption’ is used today. This term is thrown around as easily as asking someone what they had for lunch, while it should only be used when there are serious and reliable facts that support such an accusation. In Kayo’s case, these accusations are completely unfounded.”/reporter.al
