The Social Democratic League of Macedonia (LSDM) in the opposition has called on the Minister of Internal Affairs, Pançe Toshkovski, from the ranks of VMRO-DPMNE, to publicly clarify the situation regarding the escape of former Deputy Prime Minister Artan Grubi, who recently, he is also being sought with an international arrest warrant for, as has been said, the embezzlement of over 8 million euros from the State Lottery.
The party warns that if Minister Toshkovski does not do this, "they will publish the truth themselves".
"The information that reaches the SDSM is becoming more and more disturbing every day. If Toshkovski does not reveal the truth about the case within 24 hours, then the SDSM will reveal the scandal in its entirety. It is time for Toshkovski not to hide and take responsibility for the whole incident", said Thursday from SDSM.
The SDSM believes that Grub's escape was not just carelessness, but, as they say, "a well-organized effort by VMRO-DPMNE and the Democratic Union for Integration (BDI), led by Toshkovski, to let Grub run away".
Meanwhile, the Minister of Internal Affairs, Pançe Toshkovski, through a statement on social networks on Thursday afternoon, announced that his ministry (MIB) has at its disposal a video recording that proves the misuse of the official position of a police officer, who according to of him, allegedly released Artan Grubin at the border point of Bllaca, which connects North Macedonia with Kosovo. Toshkovski added that the employee has been suspended from work and a criminal complaint has been filed against him.
"I am sorry that a party that calls itself a state-forming party, again defends its partners, i.e. DUI, and again shows that it does not work in the interest of its citizens, but in the profitable interest of their closest collaborators. Otherwise, the person who is precisely elusive for the persecution bodies, at the time when they were 'in love', they were one", said Toshkovski.
Grubi, who was blacklisted in the US for corruption, has denied that he has fled the country, saying he is abroad "on a private visit". He added that he informed his personal police security about this visit.
On the other hand, the Albanian opposition party, the Democratic Union for Integration (BDI) claims that all these events would not have happened if VMRO-DPMNE and the Albanian coalition VLEN, part of the Government, had not blocked their legal proposal, which, according to this party, provided for strict restrictions on individuals included in the "black list" of the USA, for corruption.
"It is for this reason that, during our leadership in government until May of this year, our ministers proposed a progressive law that imposed strict restrictions on individuals announced on the US 'blacklist' for corruption. This law was intended to prohibit these individuals from participating in elections and public procurement processes," said the statement of DUI.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs of North Macedonia published on December 18 the international arrest warrants issued for Grub and the former director of the State Lottery, Përparim Bajram. These arrest warrants were issued at the request of the Public Prosecution and are based on the decision of the Basic Court, which on December 17 imposed a 30-day detention measure for the suspects.
Grubi and Bajrami are accused of "appropriation of illegal wealth" from the State Lottery, while the damage caused is estimated to be around 8.2 million euros.
Grubi, former MP, now former member of DUI, in the opposition, risks being sentenced to up to five years in prison, if found guilty.
Among the suspects in the case of the State Lottery are the former prime minister and former leader of the Social Democratic League of Macedonia (LSDM), Dimitar Kovacevski, as well as the former general secretary of the Government, Metodija Dimovski, who are accused of "misuse of official position and authority".
Kovacevski has denied the accusations.
"What I can say is that during my work as Prime Minister and Deputy Minister of Finance, I was guided by the laws, I always worked according to procedures and in no way did I participate in the work of any public enterprise, nor any state-owned joint stock company ", former Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski said on December 18. /REL (A2 Televizion)
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