Thursday saw the start of the trial over the Additive case, which concerns abuse of public procurement and money laundering in the procurement of coal additives for the Bitola and Oslomej plants.
All defendants pled not guilty, but the Prosecutor’s Office’s representatives stated they had solid evidence and would prove the opposite was the case.
“We will also prove the moral and institutional decay within ESM at the period when the defendants would manage the legal entity. In front of us is an organized and criminal association that the state entrusted with electricity production. Instead of honestly fulfilling their duty and repaying the state for it having shown faith in them to manage, they chose to abuse. This is a blow to the citizen who, with every paid ill, believes the electricity production system works”, Prosecutor Natasa Pop Trajkova underlined, adding that it would be proven the additive had harmed the health of citizens as well.
30 persons, including ex-Bitola plant head Vasko Kovacevski, who’s at large and will be tried in absentia, and five legal entities are charged in the case. The representatives of the legal entities, too, said their clients pled not guilty. The next hearing will be held on 26 June. The process is run by Judge Daniela Dimovska. One of the defendants, Sasa Krstevski, due to health reasons, will be covered by a separate procedure.