After conducting an investigation, a public prosecutor from the Public Prosecutor’s Office Prosecuting Organized Crime and Corruption (BPPO-OCC) filed an indictment to the Skopje Criminal Court for the scandalous corruption case in the Agency for Agricultural Support.
The first defendant, as the manager of the criminally liable legal entity, applied to a public call by the Agency for Financial Support in Agriculture and Rural Development of the Republic of Macedonia and submitted a request for the use of financial funds through the IPARD program. Since the legal entity did not meet the prescribed conditions, the application was ranked lower and did not meet the criteria for receiving financial aid.
In order for the application to be unreasonably ranked higher and the requested amount of financial assistance to be approved in full, the manager, on behalf and for the account of the legal entity, repeatedly promised and gave bribes. A senior official at the Agency was promised a gift in the amount of EUR 50,000, and three other people were given EUR 5,000 to use their real influence and official position to exert pressure to make a decision that should not have been made.
