Institutional shortcomings cited by PPO in the case of fugitive Gruevski

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The Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office for Prosecuting Organized Crime and Corruption has released to the public the actions so far undertaken in the case of fugitive, Nikola Gruevski.

The PPO adds that the total recorded video material of about 10 terabytes has been submitted for analysis to the Ministry of Interior and is still ongoing.

“Interpol, through the Ministry of Interior, has passed on information indicating that there is no material of the now-convicted Nikola Gruevski’s exit at any border crossing from Macedonia in the critical period. At the same time, from the inspection carried out in the Integrated Border Control System, it was determined that there is no recorded exit from the territory of Macedonia by the convicted person,” the statement added.

The PPO also reports that 16 orders for lists of 60 telephone numbers from persons who were connected or suspected of communicating with the convict in the critical period were issued. The listings were provided and some of them have been initially identified and are subject to further processing and analysis.

The PPO added that in the course of the case so far, they discovered that in September 2018, now convicted Nikola Gruevski withdrew approximately 120 thousand euros from his own accounts on the same date, from three different banks.

“Up until now, the relevant prosecutor has not established the existence of criminal liability by officials who assisted or participated in the organization and realization of the escape of the now-convicted Nikola Gruevski. So far, the evidence gathered suggests that there were various shortcomings in the actions of the relevant institutions that do not constitute a crime and are not under the jurisdiction of the Public Prosecutor’s Office,” the PPO informs.