SkopjeDiem Macedonia in English
The Prosecutor’s Office has opened an investigation against ex-Deputy PM Artan Grubi, who was blacklisted by the US on 9 December, and former National Lottery head Perparim Bajrami over embezzlement in the service.
As the institution said on Monday, four persons, who served as head and members of a commission in charge of two separate public calls, are being investigated as well. Police searched the homes of Grubi and Bajrami, as well as other locations in the Skopje and Kumanovo region, over suspicions of crime within the Lottery. Around 40,000 euros were found. According to unofficial information, both the ex-Deputy PM and the former Lottery head are in Kosovo.
The charges were filed by the Financial Police and Interior Ministry. In the case, a charge has been filed against an ex-PM, though he’s currently not covered by the investigation. Media reported that it was about Dimitar Kovacevski.
As Minister Pance Toskovski said on Monday, the charge was filed against eight persons: a former PM, a former Deputy PM, a former head of a legal entity, a former secretary-general, while the others are, so to speak, civil servants working at one of the entities.
“At this stage, there’s reasonable suspicion that they committed multiple crimes that ultimately led to major damage to the Macedonian citizens’ budget”, the Minister stressed.
The previous day, Grubi, who’s suspected of having illegally issued internet gambling licences, had said on social media he was not at large, that is, he was paying a private visit, over which his police security, too, had been notified.
“As soon as I finish my obligations, I’ll return home to my family”, he added in the post.
Despite the post, Toskovski called on Grubi to return to the country. MTV1 reported that the Interior Ministry would check how Grubi had gotten to Kosovo and that, initially, oversights had been found in the work of border police. Bajrami is a suspect regarding the procurement of gambling machines worth around 12 million euros. The Financial Police said 825 machines had arrived, 300 of which had been installed, while the rest had been kept in a warehouse.
Also according to the Office’s press-release, based on the evidence, what stems is reasonable suspicion that the two co-offenders, as responsible persons at the Lottery, in 2023, with the intent to obtain unlawful property benefit for another, caused financial damage estimated at 501,319,119 denars (over eight million euros).
The investigation covers also the 13-month lease of the facility in Vizbegovo, which cost the Lottery 300,000 euros. The 10-year contract between Lottery HEJ was worth 2.6 million euros. HEJ and the facility is owned by Asmir Jahoski, son of DUI MP Ismail Jahoski.
Last week, Grubi and Judge Enver Bexheti were blacklisted for, as the State Department said, “their involvement in significant corruption by accepting bribes to undermine judicial processes tied to the criminal conviction” of ex-Security and Counterintelligence Administration head Saso Mijalkov.
