The police authorities in North Macedonia published today on the official website of the Ministry of Internal Affairs the announcement regarding the international wanted status of former Deputy Prime Minister Artan Grubi and former director of the “State Lottery,” Përparim Bajrami.
The request to declare the former high-ranking official as internationally wanted was issued by the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Skopje, after the Basic Court approved on Tuesday evening the request for the detention measure for Mr. Grubi and Mr. Bajrami.
They are suspected of involvement in manipulating public procurements for the Lottery and the illegal distribution of licenses to gambling companies and casinos.
Eight individuals are suspected of being involved in this criminal activity. According to the prosecutor’s office, they have caused the state budget a damage of over eight million euros.
Authorities in Skopje state that the former deputy prime minister is in Kosovo, where he fled on Sunday, while the former director Bajrami has been hiding in Kosovo for several months, according to the police.
Local media report that Mr. Grubi has hired a lawyer and that he “would return to the country if judged in a free condition.”
The former deputy prime minister has not publicly commented since Sunday evening when he wrote on the social network Facebook that he was “abroad for a private visit and would return once he completed his obligations.”
A few days ago, Artan Grubi was designated by the U.S. State Department, along with Judge Enver Bexheti, as being involved in corruption and was declared an “undesirable person.”
/Argumentum.al
