Skopje, 9 October 2025 (MIA) — Тhe Bitola Court has rejected a request by the Bitola Public Prosecutor's Office for a detention order for two suspects in a procurement abuse case and has ordered house arrest for them.

According to the Bitola PPO in a press release, the prosecutors will appeal the decision, considering the suspects are a flight risk. One of them has considerable property in another country, the release said.

Earlier Thursday, the Bitola PPO launched an investigation against eight individuals and one legal entity for prolonged criminal offenses related to public procurement at the mining and energy combine REK Bitola.

Five officials at REK Bitola, including the then-director of the combine and four managers and directors in its mining division, are suspected of jointly committing the prolonged criminal offense of “misuse of official position and authorization” during 2023 by failing to fulfill their official duties with the intent to benefit another party, thereby causing damage to the plant through a public procurement involving the Oslomej mine.

“In defining the conditions for public procurement, they violated the principles of proportionality and competitiveness, enabling one company, the suspected legal entity, to appear as the sole bidder and sign a contract, thereby unlawfully gaining substantial financial benefit,” the Prosecutor’s Office said. 

The legal entity, its owner and another employee of the company Markovski Kompani are suspected of knowingly submitting invoices for work that was not performed, through which they unlawfully charged REK Bitola Mden 106.200.000 (EUR 1.7 million) including VAT, thereby committing the prolonged criminal offense of “abuse of an open call procedure, awarding of public procurement contract or public-private partnership.” ad/mr