The “bombs” involving Rashkovski unveil incidents in the M-NAV

The Secretary General of the Government, Dragi Rashkovski, just a few days after the recorded conversation was released, in which he is the main protagonist, will hold a press conference today in order to tell his side of the story concerning the released conversation, in which he was discussing a contract for the procurement of a new radar system for the needs of the Macedonian navigation. The most important question that Rashkovski should answer is why the Government Secretary General was negotiating the contract.
He also invited reporter Goran Momirovski, who published the conversation, Kliment Chepunjovski, former director of the agency he claims to be the whistleblower, and Ivanka Vasilevska from VMRO-DPMNE who accused Rashkovski of abuse of office.
When reporters asked Interior Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Spasovski whether Rashkovski was tasked to join the tender for the M-NAV system and whether there is a formal note about it, Spasovski replied that at the moment he didn’t know if there were any conclusions or obligations.
“I know that at the last session of the Government we discussed the part of the report on the incident that occurred in the Macedonian Air Navigation. Appropriate conclusions have been reached that should be handled, and within this framework all these issues should be clarified and timely informed”, explained Spasovski.
The recording of the conversation was posted on the Expres.mk news website and according to the transcripts, Rashkovski allegedly negotiated a contract worth 7 million euros, funded by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). The news website claims that the material was delivered from a whistleblower and the transcript and audio format were published without any changes, as they were provided.
According to them, Rashkovski along with the M-NAV President Nikolche Tasevski and the head of the cabinet of the Transport Minister, Mitko Tajchuleski, at a working meeting on October 18, 2018 arranged a bid for the purchase of a new ATM flight control system by the Italian company Leonardo. Although the deadline for the tender has been expired for three days, they granted the project to the Italian company Leonardo, which did not meet the procurement criteria.
According to Rashkovski, the entire conversation was recorded by the dismissed technical director of the M-NAV, Kliment Chepunjovski, who handed the recording over to a high-ranking official from VMRO-DPMNE, after learning about the report in which he was blamed for the incident by the Committee for Investigation of National Aviation Accidents. Rashkoski urged the prosecution to investigate the entire case and determine whether the tender allegations were true or not. He claims that the tender and the most favorable bidder were made in 2016, but the agreement on a new radar system was not signed.
The new director Chepunjovski, aware of the technical state, did not sign the contract on purpose and sent out offensive letters to the EBRD, making illegal actions for which there was evidence in the prosecution. According to Rashkovski, tenders weren’t discussed at the meeting, yet they talked about the dynamics of delivery of the already completed procedure from 2016.
Rashkovski announced that in the coming days he will publish additional documents and will hold a press conference to announce how someone wanted to cause an incident through Kliment Chepunjovski and endanger the lives of others.
The media and the opposition party that announced the conversation argue that Rahskovski along with the chairman of the M-NAV Board of Directors, although they knew that the date for the tender had been expired for three days, granted it to an Italian company.
The opposition accuses that, according to the evidence published in the media, which is a transcript of a conversation between Rashkovski and the president the M-NAV, it is obvious that even though they knew that the Italian company Leonardo did not meet the conditions, they still made a deal with it.
According to the published in the media, Rashkovski and the president of the MA of the M-NAV go contrary to a decision by the government that indicates retreating, and not making a deal, as Rashkovski and the president of the M-NAV later did.