The SPO investigates: Where did the money flow out?

The Special Public Prosecutor’s Office informed that it is intensively working to find out where the money from Macedonia has flowed out, and as possible destinations, Katica Janeva mentioned the Czech Republic, Greece, Great Britain and the Netherlands. Janeva also expected that the government would soon decide on the status of the Special Public Prosecutor’s Office.

Katica Janeva added that the project “Together for Responsibility: Support to the Special Public Prosecution of Macedonia in Strengthening its Operational Capacities and Capacities for International Legal Cooperation “will be of great help in order to get to the final answer in which countries beyond the borders of Macedonia the funds have outflowed to.

– “Of course, this project will help, we already have immediate contacts with other countries. Our prosecutors already went to study visits, so I hope that we will find out exactly where the money is, and whether it is still in the Republic of Macedonia. From the very beginning, for a long time, we have been working on the “Skopje 2014″ project, I hope that we will soon come out with a public prosecutor’s decision, not to re-examine whether it will be an investigation or something else. Other countries are the Czech Republic, which is interesting to us, Greece, Britain and the Netherlands,” said Janeva, adding that the SPO works freely, and continues to work every day to find legal ways so these financial investigations run at a faster pace.

“Every day we find ways and we are trying to find legal ways on how our financial investigations would run faster. All prosecutors and the entire SPO’s defense team work mostly on financial investigations. We also have many materials that are collected and analyzed on a daily basis, “Janeva said.
The support of the Special Public Prosecutor’s Office in strengthening its operational capacities and capacities for international legal cooperation is precisely the purpose of the project to be implemented at the Public Prosecutor’s Office for prosecuting related crimes and arising from the content of the illegal interception of communications, which was presented today.

On the other hand, Janeva expects the Government to resolve the status of the SPO soon. Special Public Prosecutor Katica Janeva stated today that she expects that the SPO status will be resolved soon after the Government’s Strategy for Judicial Reform, given that eight months have no legal possibility to bring charges.
“If this does not happen by June or until September, we will decide what to do with those investigations that will be completed at that moment,” Janeva told a press conference before the promotion of the project for strengthening the capacities of the Public Prosecutor’s Office for prosecuting criminal acts related and arising from the content of the unlawful interception of communications with regard to investigations and international assistance.
But contrary to Janeva’s expectations, Deputy Justice Minister Oliver Ristovski said that the status of the SPO will not be resolved by June, but in the strategy for judicial reform, it is planned that this will happen at the end of this year.

“According to the strategy, this is planned for the next year, meaning the process would begin at the end of 2018 and will run in the first half of 2019. We presented the idea, the SPO will be directly under the authority of the Republic Public Prosecutor, but will be able to stand independently before the three court instances: Basic, Appeal and Supreme Court,” Ristovski said.

Ristovski, answering to a journalist question, said that he personally, not as deputy justice minister, expects the president of the Council of Public Prosecutors, Kole Steriev, to resign as a moral act, because of his participation in the election of his niece Marija Gjorgeva as a prosecutor in the Organized crime department.