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High-level corruption cases in the Western Balkans and Turkey

 Procurement of a luxury motor vehicle (known as the Tenk case) - High-level corruption cases in the Western Balkans and Turkey

 Procurement of a luxury motor vehicle (known as the Tenk case)

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Introduction

On 24 January 2017, the Special Prosecution Office (SPO) launched an investigation codenamed Tenk in which two people stood accused of abusing their official position and authority in the period from February to October 2012 to complete the illegal public procurement of a Mercedes-Benz 600, a luxury bulletproof car worth almost €600,000.

Country
North Macedonia
Sector
Public contracting
Offence
Abuse of official position or authority
Phase
2nd instance verdict

Description of the case

On 24 January 2017, the Special Prosecution Office (SPO) launched an investigation codenamed Tenk in which two people stood accused of abusing their official position and authority in the period from February to October 2012 to complete the illegal public procurement of a Mercedes-Benz 600, a luxury bulletproof car worth almost €600,000.

On 29 June 2017, the SPO brought an indictment against three defendants: Gordana Jankulovska and Gjoko Popovski, who stood charged with the crime of abuse of their official position and authorisation, and Nikola Gruevski, who stood charged with the crime of accepting a reward for unlawful influence.

The prosecution found that during much of 2012 the third defendant Gruevski, while serving as prime minister, used his influence over the first defendant Jankulovska, who was then minister of the interior, and ordered her to carry out the public procurement of an expensive bulletproof vehicle of the Mercedes brand.

Jankulovska then instigated the second defendant Popovski to carry out the rest of the procedure and favour a certain economic bidder without adhering to the conditions of the tender. Popovski made the selection and the Ministry of the Interior issued a payment of almost €600,000 to the economic bidder Mak Auto Star DOOEL.

Although the public procurement was conducted to meet the needs of the Ministry of the Interior, the car was given to Gruevski, who wanted to use it for private purposes but did not want the public to know.

On 23 May 2018, the Basic Court Skopje 1 Skopje brought a verdict against two of the defendants. The second defendant Popovski was sentenced to six years and six months in prison, while the third defendant Nikola Gruevski was sentenced to two years in prison for inciting the crime.

On 8 October 2018, the Basic Court Skopje 1 Skopje found the first defendant Jankulovska guilty of the crime of abusing her official position and authorisation, and sentenced her to six years in prison.

The judicial shortcomings in the case are apparent in the time between the imposition of sanctions and their enforcement, which exceeded legal deadlines.

Specifically, the Supreme Court accepted a request from the first defendant Jankulovska to postpone her prison sentence, and sent the decision to the Criminal Court. The Criminal Court decided to postpone the decision until Jankulovska’s child turned 12 months old. Subsequently, the enforcement of the sentence was postponed again until the Supreme Court ruled on the extraordinary review of the final verdict. The prison sentence for Jankulovska was finally enforced on 28 September 2020.

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