The Public Prosecutor’s Office for Prosecuting Organized Crime and Corruption (PPO OCC) after Tuesday’s action by the Financial Police that resulted in arrests in connection with malfeasance in the Customs Administration, during which the former Karposh mayor and former Customs Administration director from the ranks of now opposition SDSM Stefan Bogoev was also arrested, has requested detention for all involved, which seriously indicates that the suspicions of the Financial Police are seriously supported by evidence.
Acting on a criminal complaint filed by the Financial Police Administration, the public prosecutor in question from the PPO OCC issued an order to conduct an investigative procedure against four persons – the director and assistant director of the Customs Administration, the manager of a legal entity and an employee of the same entity. Detention has been requested for all of them.
The suspects, including former SDSM deputy leader Stefan Bogoev, are charged with abuse of the public call procedure, awarding a public procurement contract or public-private partnership, receiving a reward for unlawful influence and giving a reward for unlawful influence.
There is a reasonable suspicion that in the period from July 2023 to March 2024, the suspects rigged the procedure for awarding public procurement contracts for external hygiene maintenance at border crossings and terminals, whereby by favoring a certain economic operator and restricting competition, they enabled the legal entity to acquire unlawful property benefits in the amount of MKD 18,479,692.
