Gruevski is accused of graft, not for annex to agreement

Nikola Gruevski, an MP and VMRO-DPMNE’s leader, made a public statement on the “Trajectory” case, in which he is the primary defendant, which we assess as manipulative assertion and untruth.

My colleagues and I are accused of something SDSM’s government had been doing in the past and is doing now. I’m talking about the Kozjak hydro power plant, which was built in the same way, following the same procedure – the government took a loan from China and financed the construction of Kozjak. Now, an annex to agreement was added the same way, which was passed by the Parliament. We have been accused of something they do now, and have been doing in the past, so you do the math. Everything we did was in compliance with the laws and the Parliament observed and accepted everything. All deputies voted, including SDSM’s deputies.

[Source: MKD – date: 6 December 2017]

EXPLANATION:

On 6 December 2017, after the “Trajectory” case hearing was postponed, in which the primary defendant is the ex-Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, he in front of the Criminal Court of Skopje gave an untrue and inconsistent statement, because he compared this case with another instance, i.e. the procedure for the construction of the Kozjak hydro power plant.

The “Trajectory” case is the code name of Special Prosecution Office’s (SPO) indictment on the loan in the amount of 500 million euros from China for constructing motorways in the Republic of Macedonia, which includes a Chinese company as the main contractor.

Bill of indictment’s essence doesn’t lie in the annex to the Agreement and the Law passed by the Parliament with the votes of the then opposition party SDSM, but in the precluding of the public procurement procedure for the construction of two new motorways, which must have been performed, pursuant to the Law on Public Procurements, by the former Prime minister and the two other members of the previous government, the second and third defendant, Mile Janakieski and Vladimir Peshevski.

Namely, in its indictment, the SPO claims that, according to the Agreement for Technical Cooperation between Macedonia and China, Macedonia wasn’t bound to dismiss the public procurement procedure through transparent tender, nor was it instructed to select one firm, Sinohydro in this case.

Contrary, the SPO argue that even the list of companies delivered by the Chinese was omitted, and following the direct order of the ex-Prime minister, Janakieski and Peshevski started direct negotiations with Sinohydro and one other company, only to create an image of competitiveness. Then, they ceased the negotiations with the second company, and continued negotiating with Sinohydro only.

According to the SPO, the whole non-transparent and illegal procedure damaged the Budget of the RM for approximately 155 million euros. This amount has been calculated in the following manner:

Gruevski and the other two defendants had been notified that the revised calculations for construction of the Kichevo-Ohrid motorway made by the Public Enterprise for State Roads, whose director was the fourth defendant, were in the amount of nearly 270 million euros. Meanwhile, they even received an offer from the second company, which was later excluded from the negotiations, in the amount of 369 million euros. However, instead of considering this offer, they concluded, initialed, an agreement with Sinohydro in the amount of 411 million euros.

Afterwards, they made a bill which, according to the SPO, stated that Sinohydro’s offer was the most inexpensive and the best. By doing so, they deceived the members of the Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia and as a result they passed the Law. All of this is covered by SPO’s bill of indictment.

Hence, Gruevski is accused of the aforesaid and “receiving award” (graft) as well, while the remaining three are accused of “abuse of office and authorizations”, not for an annex to the agreement and a Law passed by the Parliament, as in the Kozjak case, as Gruevski wants to present publicly. In fact, as the media reminded, there was trial as well as accused and convicted persons in the Kozjak case.

In addition to this, Sinohydro is a company that has been involved in many corrupt deals worldwide, a topic that Truthmeter has already covered.

Given the aforementioned arguments, Gruevski’s statement is manipulative and we assess it as untruth.

SOURCES:

• MKD.mk – Груевски бара од судот…. – [Accessed on 06 December 2017]
• Special Prosecutor’s Office – Обвинителен акт за „Траекторија“– [Accessed on 06 December 2017]
• SDK.mk – Груевски се правда со Козјак… – [Accessed on 06 December 2017]
• Truthmeter.mk – Корупцискиот магнет Синохидро… – [Accessed on 06 December 2017]

Assessed by: Teofil Blazhevski

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