A year ago, Samir Mane started to sell some of the businesses of the BALFIN group in the retail trade sector. In March 2025, the sale of the SPAR supermarket chain to the Kosovar company Viva Fresh was announced, while a few months later, Fashion Group Albania was also transferred to another Kosovar company.
A year later, the name of businessman Samir Mane has returned to the attention of the Special Prosecutor’s Office. Mane has been interrogated by SPAK, while his name has been mentioned in other investigative files related to drug trafficking, money laundering and property development in the Green Coast area of Palasa.
This chronology raises a question: Was the sale of some of BALFIN’s businesses a purely strategic and economic decision, or was the businessman reorganizing the group’s assets before facing a new legal situation?
SPAR was sold for 44 million euros, followed by Fashion Group
In March 2025, BALFIN sold the SPAR supermarket chain to Viva Fresh Group. The transaction was reported to be worth around 44 million euros.
A few months later, in June 2025, the sale of Fashion Group Albania to the Albi Holding company, part of the Kosovar Albi Group, was also made public. Fashion Group Albania managed a number of international fashion brands in Albania. So, within a relatively short period of time, BALFIN removed from its portfolio two important companies in the retail sector. At the time, the move was presented as part of a reorganization of the group.
What did Samir Mane say about sales?
In a statement released later, Samir Mane himself explained the sale of SPAR and Fashion Group as part of a strategy to focus on businesses that have the potential to expand beyond a single market.
According to him, these activities had geographical limitations for expansion, while BALFIN was focusing on brands and activities with greater cross-border potential.
This is the public explanation given by the businessman himself.
But subsequent developments have caused these transactions to be seen from another angle.
A year later, Mane in SPAK
In 2026, Samir Mane appeared at the SPAK and was interrogated at a time when his name had been mentioned in several investigations of the Special Prosecutor’s Office.
One of them is related to the file centered on a suspected network of cocaine trafficking and money laundering.
In a SPAK file published earlier, the prosecutors have documented communications between the persons under investigation, where Samir Mane and the “Green Coast” project are also mentioned. According to the investigative materials, one of the communications discusses a payment of 3 million euros for the inclusion of a property in the Palasa project.
These are allegations and suspicions of the prosecution body, not a final judicial finding.
Are business sales related to SPAK investigations?
This is the question that requires answers and documents.
The fact that the sale of SPAR and Fashion Group took place about a year before the new investigative developments against Manes does not in itself prove that the transactions were related to SPAK.
On the other hand, the chronology is such that it raises a legitimate question to investigate: what really prompted BALFIN to sell two important businesses within a few months, and was there any information or development at the time that was not made public?
Manes’ official answer is that it was about strategic reorganization and focusing on businesses with international potential.
The Green Coast investigation and the connection to the Balluk file
At the same time, in September 2026, Mane appeared at SPAK in another development related to the investigation of a villa in the “Green Coast” complex, which prosecutors suspect was secretly owned by former Deputy Prime Minister Belinda Balluku.
According to reports, the villa is located in Green Coast, a complex developed by companies linked to the Manes group. SPAK is investigating the circumstances of its ownership, financing and construction.
This means that the businessman’s name has appeared in two different directions of SPAK investigations: in the file related to drug trafficking and money laundering, as well as in the investigation about the villa in Green Coast related to the Balluku file.
The question that remains
The sale of SPAR and Fashion Group was, according to Samir Manes’ public explanation, part of a strategic reorganization of BALFIN.
But today, after the developments in SPAK, the chronology of these transactions raises another question:
Was it simply a business restructuring, or was the sale of some of the group’s companies part of a wider maneuver before facing the Special Prosecutor’s Office investigations?
For this reason, the answer cannot be given as a fact, but remains a clue that can only make sense if the investigation or transaction documents show a concrete connection between the sales and the developments that followed.
Meanwhile, one thing is a fact: SPAR and Fashion Group were sold in 2025, while a year later Samir Mane was called to SPAK and his name appeared in some of the files that the Special Prosecutor’s Office is investigating.
