Check-Up health concession: unperformed analyses, KLSH criticism and 2026 budget line
Status: Ongoing concession funded in the 2026 draft budget. Allegations by the opposition and by a 2018 KLSH finding as reported. No court or SPAK finding found.
Summary
The Check-Up concession is a public-private health contract under which the state pays a private operator for basic medical check-up analyses. Albanian reports say it was signed in 2015 when Ilir Beqaj was health minister (UNVERIFIED: from secondary report). In August 2018 Democratic Party MP Bardh Spahia said the state had paid about 22 million euro to the company, of which 7 million euro was for analyses never carried out, and that a KLSH (Supreme State Audit) report had flagged the contract for a second year and recommended removing payments for unperformed services. These are the MP's figures; the KLSH report itself was not reviewed in this research.
The state budget keeps funding the concession. Shqiptarja reported (4 November 2025) that the 2026 draft budget sets 699.8 million lekë for the age group 35-70, down from 876 million lekë in 2025. The same 876 million lekë figure appears as the 2021 budget projection in a 2020 Shqiptarja report. A secondary report puts the original 2015 age group at 40-65, so the eligible age range appears to have changed; not confirmed.
In 2026 the opposition Democratic Party has said it would cancel the concession if it returns to power. No SPAK case specifically on the Check-Up concession was found in the sources reviewed. A secondary report mentions a parliamentary inquiry commission on sterilisation and Check-Up; its date and findings were not confirmed.
Key facts
- 2018 MP claim: about 22 million euro paid to the company, of which 7 million euro for analyses not carried out (Shqiptarja, 16 Aug 2018).
- 2018 MP claim: 2.1 million euro per year treated as budget damage for about 145,000 visits not performed; 26 per cent of the population had the analyses (same source).
- 2018 MP claim: Tax Directorate reimbursed 1.8 million euro in VAT to the concessionaire (same source; the speaker says health services are VAT-exempt by law).
- Budget payments: 876 million lekë (2025) and 699.8 million lekë (2026 draft), per Shqiptarja, 4 Nov 2025.
- 2025 budget payment is listed among the largest concession payments in the 2025 budget projections (Shqiptarja, 28 Oct 2024).
The record
Four lists kept apart on purpose: what is established, what is only alleged, what is still open, and what those concerned said.
What is proven (2)
Established by documents or official records, as stated in the research. A recorded charge or indictment proves only that the accusation was made.
- The state budget funds the Check-Up concession: 876 million lekë in 2025 and 699.8 million lekë in the 2026 draft (Shqiptarja, 4 Nov 2025, reporting the budget tables; the Ministry of Finance Fiscal Risk Statement 2025 gives only aggregate figures for all concessions).
- The 2018 Shqiptarja article reports the KLSH recommended revising the contract to remove payments for unperformed services (as reported by the MP; the KLSH document was not reviewed).
What is alleged (3)
Accusations, not findings. Those accused are presumed innocent.
- AllegationThat about 7 million euro of the 22 million euro paid was for analyses never carried out (MP Spahia, 2018).
- AllegationThat the Tax Directorate refunded 1.8 million euro in VAT contrary to the law (MP Spahia, 2018).
- AllegationThat the concessionaire is linked to a client and sponsor of Prime Minister Edi Rama (2018 Shqiptarja framing, not established).
Allegations and who made them (2)
Each line is an allegation as recorded, with the person or body that made it where the record names them.
- AllegationDemocratic Party MP Bardh Spahia alleges that the state paid for analyses never performed and that the concession is a symbol of corruption (Shqiptarja, 16 Aug 2018).
- AllegationOpposition claims that the company is connected to a client and sponsor of the Prime Minister, as the 2018 Shqiptarja article describes it. Not established.
Open questions (4)
- Current status of the KLSH recommendation and whether the contract was amended.
- Identity and shareholders of the concessionaire and of any company linked to the 2018 owner claim; no registry extract reviewed.
- Why the age range reported for the contract changed from 40-65 (2015, excerpt) to 35-70 (2026 budget).
- Whether SPAK has an open file on the Check-Up contract separate from the sterilisation case.
Responses (2)
Responses of the people and organisations concerned, as recorded.
- 2018: no response from the concessionaire or the Ministry of Health is included in the Shqiptarja article (Shqiptarja, 16 Aug 2018).
- The government response to the 2026 budget figures was not found in sources reviewed.
Figures
Money trail →Check-Up concession payments for planned checks, 2023
876,000,000 lek
Stated definition: As reported by Vetting (2026): about 467,000 checks performed against about 475,000 planned. The contract pays a fixed annual fee regardless of volume.
Date: 2023 · Payer: FSDKSH · Payee: Check-Up concession holder
- FSDKSH at the centre of the health system's failure (Vetting) (opens in a new tab)BalkanWeb (Vetting) · 5 Mar 2026 · journalism · SQ
Check-Up concession: 2025 budget payment
876,000,000 lek
Stated definition: About 8.7 million euro as reported by Shqiptarja (2025 budget).
Date: 31 Dec 2025 · Payer: Ministry of Health (state budget) · Payee: Check-Up concessionaire (name per excerpt: 3P Life Logistic, UNVERIFIED)
- Kontratat PPP marrin 120 mln euro nga buxheti 2026 (opens in a new tab)Shqiptarja · 4 Nov 2025 · journalism · SQ
Check-Up concession: 2026 draft budget line (age 35-70)
€7,000,000
699,800,000 lek
Stated definition: 699.8 million lekë, about 7 million euro as reported; down from 876 million in 2025.
Date: 31 Dec 2026 · Payer: Ministry of Health (state budget) · Payee: Check-Up concessionaire
- Kontratat PPP marrin 120 mln euro nga buxheti 2026 (opens in a new tab)Shqiptarja · 4 Nov 2025 · journalism · SQ
Check-Up: claimed payments for unperformed analyses (2018 MP claim)
€7,000,000
Stated definition: MP Spahia's claim, of about 22 million euro paid, 7 million of it for analyses not carried out. Not confirmed against the KLSH report.
Date: 16 Aug 2018 · Payer: Ministry of Health · Payee: Check-Up concessionaire
- PD: Do anulojme koncesionin korruptiv te check up-it (opens in a new tab)Shqiptarja · 16 Aug 2018 · journalism · SQ
Check-Up: VAT reimbursement (2018 MP claim)
€1,800,000
Stated definition: MP claim that the Tax Directorate reimbursed 1.8 million euro VAT. Unverified.
Date: 16 Aug 2018 · Payer: General Directorate of Taxes · Payee: Check-Up concessionaire
- PD: Do anulojme koncesionin korruptiv te check up-it (opens in a new tab)Shqiptarja · 16 Aug 2018 · journalism · SQ
Timeline
Full timeline →International
IMF fiscal transparency evaluation flags about 55 PPPs worth 7% of GDP
Tirana Times reported (dateline 18 January 2016) that an IMF fiscal transparency evaluation expressed special concern over about 55 public-private partnerships with present value of about 7 per cent of GDP, naming Tirana airport, a health checkup service (1% of GDP), a scanning service (2% of GDP) and the Arbëri and Milot-Morinë toll road pipeline. The article reports no government response on transparency.
Parliament
PD MP Bardh Spahia alleges unperformed analyses in Check-Up concession
Spahia alleges that about 22 million euro was paid, 7 million euro of it for analyses not carried out; cites a KLSH report flagging the contract for a second year and recommending revision; says the Democratic Party would cancel the concession. Claims only.
Government
2025 budget projects concession payments of 14.2 billion lekë across 10 contracts
Shqiptarja reports the 2025 budget projection: Arbër road 3.36 billion lekë; sterilisation 1.9 billion; laboratories 1.9 billion; dialysis 960 million; Check-Up 876 million; Milot-Morinë 720 million. Ministry of Finance later reports an actual 2025 outturn of 13.36 billion lekë (see below).
Government
Draft 2026 budget cuts concession funding to about 120 million euro
Shqiptarja reports the 2026 draft budget: about 120 million euro for concessions and PPPs, down from 139 million in 2025; 40 per cent to the infrastructure ministry; check-up cut to 699.8 million lekë; sterilisation to 500 million; dialysis to 815 million; laboratories up to 2 billion. Eleven contracts active.
Media
Vetting: FSDKSH oncology delays, unused penalties and check-up payments
Vetting (BalkanWeb) reported 10 FSDKSH directors between 2015 and 2025; 49 documented delays in cytostatic and targeted cancer drugs since 2020 with penalties of about 49 million lekë never collected; and 876 million lekë paid in 2023 for planned check-ups, of which about 467,000 were carried out. Parliament's response was requested before publication and none is reported.
Connections
Signed Check-Up concession as health minister
Evidence: Secondary report of an Albanian report says the Check-Up concession was signed in 2015 by Ilir Beqaj (UNVERIFIED, excerpt only).
Public claims that Check-Up concession is corrupt
Evidence: Shqiptarja, 16 Aug 2018: the MP's allegations and call for cancellation.
Hypotheses
Possible explanations that connect this record with other findings. They are not findings; each lists the evidence for and against.
- Source label: Unverified
FSDKSH controls failed in several ways at once: fictitious reimbursement, unperformed check-ups and unpunished oncology delays
The depot case alleges fictitious inventories billed to FSDKSH (Nov 2025). Vetting (Mar 2026) reports a Check-Up concession paying a fixed fee for about 475,000 checks while about 467,000 were performed in 2023, 49 documented cancer-drug delays since 2020 with about 49 million lekë penalties never collected, and ten directors in ten years. The common thread is weak verification before payment.
Evidence for
- Prosecution alleges fictitious inventories and invoices claimed as reimbursement, and that three fund employees did not physically check medicines (Shqiptarja, 2025).
- Vetting reports the fixed-fee Check-Up payment regardless of volume and weak contract monitoring (Vetting, 2026).
- Vetting reports 49 cancer-drug delays and penalties not collected.
Evidence against
- The depot case is an allegation under prosecution review; no verdict exists.
- The Check-Up and oncology problems are documented by Vetting and by an earlier KLSH finding, but no SPAK charge on them was found; these are separate matters that may not share a cause.
- Turnover of directors may reflect political change, not a single control failure.
- Source label: Unverified
The state keeps paying fixed concession fees long after prosecutors and auditors raised problems
Concession contracts guarantee yearly payments regardless of performance. The incinerator files show convictions in Elbasan and ongoing cases in Fier and Tirana, yet Faktoje counts about 8.2 billion lekë paid for the Tirana incinerator from 2018 to November 2025, with more budgeted to 2029. The Ministry of Finance reports 13.36 billion lekë paid on 11 concession contracts in 2025. If payments are not suspended when crimes are found, the cost of corruption is locked in for decades.
Evidence for
- Tirana incinerator: about 8.2 billion lekë paid 2018–November 2025 and 3.3 billion more planned for 2027–2029 (Faktoje, 2 November 2026).
- Elbasan incinerator: the High Court left convictions in force (November 2024).
- Check-Up: 876 million lekë paid in 2023 (Vetting); Exit calculated about 2.9 million euro paid in 2017 for checks not performed.
- Ministry of Finance: 13.36 billion lekë paid on 11 concession contracts in 2025.
Evidence against
- Stopping payments can trigger arbitration and higher costs; the state may be legally bound.
- Some health concession lines were cut in the 2026 budget.
- Payments are within the legal 5% fiscal limit.
- Source label: Unverified
2026 cuts to health concessions may reflect the SPAK and parliamentary scrutiny of the same contracts
The 2026 draft budget cuts the sterilisation line from 1.9 billion to 500 million lekë (about -74 per cent) and dialysis from 960 million to 815 million, while laboratories rise to 2 billion. The sterilisation contract is the subject of the SPAK case against former minister Ilir Beqaj, which was reported in July 2026 with house arrest. Cutting the line may follow from the case, or from planned volume reductions, or from a contract being ended or renegotiated. The 2026 budget reporting gives no reason.
Evidence for
- Sterilisation line falls about 74 per cent in the 2026 draft (Shqiptarja, 4 Nov 2025), the largest cut among the health lines.
- SPAK charges around the sterilisation tender are documented in the dataset (case-sterilization-concession, case-sasapc-beqaj).
- The Check-Up line also falls (876m to 699.8m lekë), and the Check-Up contract has been under KLSH criticism since 2018.
Evidence against
- The 2026 draft reporting is silent on reasons; contracts may have fixed annual schedules or planned volumes that naturally fall.
- The laboratory line rises, which does not fit a simple anti-health-concession narrative.
- The 2026 cuts were drafted in late 2025, before the April 2026 SPAK seizures and the July 2026 Beqaj house arrest; the link would have to run through earlier SPAK activity.
Sources for this record
Every source the research cites for this record, grouped by its source label. 6 sources.
Source label: Officially reportedOfficially reported · 5 sources
- Publisher
- Shqiptarja
- Date
- 16 Aug 2018
- Publisher
- Shqiptarja
- Date
- 4 Nov 2025
- Publisher
- Shqiptarja
- Date
- 28 Oct 2024
- Publisher
- Shqiptarja
- Date
- 20 Oct 2020
- Publisher
- Tirana Times
- Date
- 22 Jan 2016
Source label: Under investigationUnder investigation · 1 source
- Publisher
- BalkanWeb (Vetting)
- Date
- 5 Mar 2026