Activist Jurgen Shpërdhea has reacted after accusations raised on social networks about the way funds collected through GoFundMe were used to support protests against the government.
Through an Instagram post, Shpërdhea has published fundraising figures, several bank transfers and WhatsApp conversations, claiming to be fully transparent about how the money was used.
According to footage published by him, a total of $5,698.09 has been raised through GoFundMe. Of this amount, $5,162.52 was transferred, $355.09 was still in process, while $180.48 was listed as platform fees.
Spërdhesa says that, according to the exchange rate, the funds available to him were about 5,120 euros.
Of this amount, he declares that he spent 500 euros during a two-day stay in Brussels, where he protested in front of the European Parliament, including a canceled flight to Tirana.
According to the account published by him, 4,620 euros remained after this expenditure.
Spërdhesa further claims that on October 23 he distributed around 1,860 euros to several people who, according to him, were “on the front line fighting with the police”. To support this claim, he has also published images of three transfers, with values of 500, 501 and 863 euros, while the names of the beneficiaries have been covered “for security reasons”.
After these payments, he says he had 2,760 euros left.
From this amount, Shpërdhea declares that he donated 1,000 euros to a boy with orphan status, whom he says he identified through a video published on social networks. The post also published a transfer of 1,000 euros in favor of another person, as well as a conversation on WhatsApp regarding the payment.
After that, according to him, 1,760 euros remained.
Spërdhesa says that the equivalent of the 355 dollars that had not yet arrived from GoFundMe should be deducted from this amount, bringing the amount he claims to currently have in reserve to around 1,442 euros.
“These are not affected until further notice”, he writes.
The activist’s post comes after accusations were published during the day that funds collected on behalf of the protest through GoFundMe could have been appropriated by people involved in its organization or support.
The documents published by Spërdhesa constitute his version on the use of funds. From the images made public, the identity of all beneficiaries or the ultimate purpose of each payment cannot be independently verified.
There is also a small difference in the figures published by him: Shpërdhea declares that he distributed 1,860 euros on October 23, while the three transfers shown in the posts are for 500, 501 and 863 euros, i.e. a total of 1,864 euros.
