Gold Medal for Delusion

Frosina Fakova – Serafinovic

Businessman Orce Kamchev, a suspect in one of the SPO’s cases, won the gold medal in Cologne, and the institutions won a gold medal for public delusion. And if it was not for the victory of HC Vardar in the European Champions League, we would not have known that Orce and other suspects in the “Empire” case could spend their summer vacation by the sea. Three days after the great victory, when the richest Macedonian suspect appeared on the podium with the handball players, the institutions came out with official information.
Special Public Prosecutor Katica Janeva and the preliminary procedure judge Vesna Dimishkova, who gave the green light to the Ministry of Interior to issue a passport to the suspected businessman, sat on the same table yesterday to debate the reforms in the judiciary. In her press statement immediately before the debate, Janeva confirmed that she had given a favorable opinion, that is, the approval to give Kamchev’s passport to participate in some Board of Directors abroad. The special prosecutor claimed that they had not yet received official confirmation that Kamchev owned a passport and could travel abroad.
But she gave this statement before the debate while the judge was inside, and then there were courteous speeches and muddle about judiciary reforms. On Sunday, the entire Macedonian public wondered how the suspected businessman was able to go to Cologne, but the institutions were waiting for the holidays to end in order to inform that he was issued a passport because he had urgent business trips as a member of the Board of Directors and had to go to compulsory education abroad. Although official information came out, it did not solve the dilemmas of the public, yet imposed fresh ones.
Which are these Boards of Directors to which Kamchev is a member, while being charged with criminal acts involving offshore companies, and what kind of compulsory education abroad, when we all know that only primary and secondary education are the only compulsory types of education. For his needs, he provided evidence and demanded a passport for a period of eight months, but the court was strict, and issued him a passport with a validity of six months. On the other hand, Special Prosecutor Janeva says that she does not want to be Kamchev’s advocate, but also has understanding for both his presumption of innocence and the employees in his companies who need to be paid.
For Janeva and the court, it is quite normal to issue such temporary passports to suspects, and said that they received requests from suspects in their cases on daily basis. But it is not normal for the public to see the richest Macedonian, against whom the SPO claimed to possess incalculable evidence of crime, laughing from Cologne, as if he wanted to send a message that he cannot be defeated. Opening the investigation against him was a satisfaction for journalists and all other employees in the three daily newspapers of the MPM, who believe that he and his associates were responsible for burying the media.
Now that the status of the SPO is a status quo and the investigation of this case is on hold, and the suspects are issued temporary passports, it is getting more certain that his “Empire”, with which he and his close friend Sasho Mijalkov ruled for an entire decade, will not be destroyed. With the legal opinion of the Supreme Court, which proclaimed SPO as incompetent to initiate charges and investigations, 18 months after receiving the so-called “bombs”, Kamchev is the one who benefited the most.