The Special Public Prosecution (SPO) currently has seven open preliminary investigations, with 60 suspects, while the total number of investigations increases, said the spokesperson for the SPO, prosecutor Lenche Ristoska.
A large number of the pre-investigate procedures, as suggested by the prosecutor, are focused on financial crime, which means more time is needed to finish them.
Responding to a journalist’s question, Ristoska said that so far they can not prejudge when they will file their first indictment and acknowledged that they’re under pressure due to the approaching deadline of 18 months in which the Special Prosecutor Katica Janeva, under the SPO Law, must indict or put a stop to an investigative procedure.
“It is true that the deadline is running out, but as to when we can expect an indictment is an issue, which we can not give a precise answer to because it depends on the volume of evidence. So far can not prejudge any dates”, Ristoska said.
Regarding the material which was given to the SPO by the leader of the SDSM, Zoran Zaev, towards the end of last year, Ristoska said that according to their calculations, it will take the prosecutors one year and a half to listen to all the audio recordings.
“We have received 540,646 audio recordings. Let us assume that on average one tape lasts 90 seconds, our calculations show that if 11 prosecutors listened to the audio recordings for three hours a day, for 220 working days, we will need more than a year and a half just to listen to the material. We would also have to consider other details, such as gathering additional evidence for the conduct of the materials, so we can say that this situation indicates that the deadline is something which has been forced upon us. I believe we will put all our efforts into finding a mechanism to overcome this situation”, said the prosecutor from the SPO.
Ristoska stated that in September, when the SPO, according to their plan, should be moving to their new premises in the building of the Agency for Youth and Sports, which is currently being renovated, there, they will receive special software, which should help in the analysis of intercepted calls.
