The owner of the telephone company “One Albania”, Gellért Zoltán Jászai, is being investigated in Hungary for suspicions of corruption and clientelism in the benefit of state funds, assets, concessions and licenses during the government of his friend, Viktor Orbán.
In Albania, meanwhile, Jászai is developing through “One Albania” an operation for the collection of alleged obligations to subscribers. Citizens and businesses are facing warnings of legal action and enforcement for amounts that, according to the denunciations, are not supported by debt documents.
“One Albania” has engaged two debt collection companies, “ODMC Albania” and “D&A Fin Partner”. These companies are asking customers for payments for obligations that some citizens object to as unsubstantiated.
The Center for European Legal Services, CELS, has publicly denounced this practice as an extortion scheme through the invoicing of fictitious obligations.
CELS has called on businesses and individuals who have contracts with “One Albania” not to pay amounts not supported by documentation, to refuse pressure and to report the cases to the responsible institutions.
Many clients of “One Albania”, who declare that they pay their bills regularly, have received repeated notifications from “ODMC Albania” and “D&A Fin Partner”.
The two companies are sending messages and letters to subscribers, warning them that within 10 days they may face legal and enforcement proceedings.
In some cases, companies require the payment of 1000 lek for each contract phone number. Subscribers who received the notices claim they remain active customers and pay their monthly bills regularly.
Sources close to the case warn that the amounts may increase, while “One Albania” has not presented the clients with the documentation that proves the origin and calculation of the claimed liabilities.
According to the data of the National Business Center, “ODMC Albania” was registered on April 20, 2023, with administrator Magdhalini Lena and headquarters in the “Arlis Square 21” complex, on Kavajë Street.
The company is a branch of the Serbian-Cypriot company “ODM Collections doo Beograd”, with headquarters at “Lomina” Street, no. 20, Savski Venac, Belgrade. The companies “Ocean Ideas LTD”, “Ocean Roark doo Beograd”, “Nexlify Holdings” and “Driftwave LTD” are mentioned in its structure.
Among the owners and managers of “ODM Collections doo Belgrade” are Dejan Vuković, Marin Gligo, Jasna Radovanović, Snežana Stojković, Zhanar Seidakhmetova and Malik Kushaliyev.
According to the information provided by “Pamphlet”, these people have developed economic and financial relations with Gellért Zoltán Jászain, the owner of “One Albania”.
Eight months after the registration of “ODMC Albania” in Albania, specifically in December 2023, the owners of the parent company reached an agreement with Jászai for the purchase of the debt portfolio that the subscribers allegedly owed to “One Albania”.
The telephone company also engaged in the same operation “D&A Fin Partner”, a name previously mentioned in the denunciations of abuses of microcredits and collection of obligations to citizens.
“D&A Fin Partner” is owned by Dritan Abazi and Anis Hoxha. Its activity is weighed down by allegations of suspicious money transfers, disguised as debt collection and financial management services.
The sources also connect the company with the owner of “IuteCredit” (iuteCredit Albania SH), Akan Ajdini, another name mentioned in microcredit issues. According to the same information, Ajdini cooperated with the network associated with “One Albania” and in financial operations affecting “OTP Bank”.
At the center of the scheme remains a simple question: on what documentation is “One Albania” asking subscribers to pay obligations that they say they do not have?
The company must publish the contractual basis, the invoices, the period of creation and the method of calculation of each obligation. Until then, messages with threats of lawsuits and enforcement do not prove the existence of the debt. They only try to put pressure on customers./ Pamphlet
