The current Deputy Prime Minister for Combating Corruption Ljupcho Nikolovski has been persistently silent for more than two weeks about the smuggled tobacco at the Deve Bair border crossing. One hundred tons of tobacco or five trucks entered Macedonia at the Deve Bair border crossing, through the company Studenac Sped which is owned by a close friend of Ljupcho Nikolovski and the mayor of Kriva Palanka, accuses VMRO-DPMNE spokesperson Dimche Arsovski.
“Today we want to point out new information regarding this tobacco smuggling and we suspect that Ljupcho Nikolovski is directly involved in this case. Why? Follow and conclude yourself, and let Nikolovski answer the questions. First, the smuggling was carried out in the period in the first half of 2019 until May. That is the period when Ljupcho Nikolovski was still the current Minister of Agriculture. After that, the company Studenac Sped did not meet the conditions for import of tobacco, according to the instructions issued by the phytosanitary Inspectorate. “Although she did not meet the conditions, still probably someone from the ministry approved or urged, as they know by phone, that they already tell themselves from SDSM to import tobacco and Ljupcho Nikolovski is directly responsible for that,” he said.
