“Tank” – Investigation on the purchase of the Mercedes for the Prime Minister

By Тео Блажевски On Jul 1, 2017 0

The road from Mercedes to “Tank” is short

This investigation is about how the Ministry of Interior (MOI) purchased the vehicle for the needs of the Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski. It’s a Mercedes worth more than €600 thousand

This investigation is about the purchase by the Ministry of Interior (MOI) of a new vehicle for the needs of the Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski. It’s a Mercedes worth more than €600 thousand

24 January 2017 – With this investigation, the SPO elaborates its suspicions that there have been illegalities during the public procurement of the opulent armored vehicle intended for the Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski. These illegalities have been perpetrated by employees in the MOI, and one of them is the head of the Ministry.

The SPO suspects that the prime suspect has abetted the second suspect, also from the MOI, to break the rules for the public procurements and to favor an economic operator (importer and dealer of Mercedes vehicles) and by doing so, to make “the Prime Minister’s wish come true”.

Here’s the statement of the prosecutor Fatime Fetai, given during the presentation of this investigation:

In this specific case, there is justified suspicion that in order to make the wish of the then Prime Minister for procuring special passenger motor vehicle come true, the prime suspect has abetted the second suspect to abuse his office and authorizations and during the public procurement process to illegally distinquish – favor a certain economic operator to procure the vehicle of the desired type.

…There is justified suspicion that in the public procurement procedure, the second suspect, who was aware of the illegal favoring of a certain economic operator, made tha decision on and concluded a contract for public procurement of vehicle worth 29.852.542 denar plus VAT in the amount of 5.373.458 denar or in total 572.780 euro.

The details from the presentation of “Tank” are available here (in Macedonian).

The summary of the media reactions is available here (in Macedonian).

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This article was created within the framework of the Project to increase the accountability of the politicians and political parties Truthmeter implemented by Metamorphosis. The article is made possible by the generous support of the National Endowment for Democracy(NED) and The Balkan Trust for Democracy (BTD), a project of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, an initiative that supports democracy, good governance, and Euroatlantic integration in Southeastern Europe. The content is the responsibility of its author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Metamorphosis, National Endowment for Democracy, the Balkan Trust for Democracy, the German Marshall Fund of the United States, or its partners.