ELBASAN: Ilir Rranci moved to a hamlet outside the Albanian city of Elbasan for the view of snow-capped peaks and a garden big enough for fruit trees, chickens and turkeys. Today, however, the surrounding scenery is obstructed by a multicoloured mountain of rubbish from a next-door landfill.
The trash was supposed to be fed into a new incinerator to produce electricity, but the project has been plagued by operating problems and the pile has grown, residents say.
It is one of three such sites worth hundreds of millions of euros at the heart of a corruption scandal in which prosecutors allege contracts for incinerators were awarded illegally, ministers accepted payments, and contractors faked invoices for work that was never done.