On 25 November 2025, police officers from the Financial Crime Unit within the Sector for Criminal Investigations at the Department for Suppression of Organized and Serious Crime arrested N.R. (51) from Kumanovo, former Director of the Public Enterprise for Exchange Operations “Agro Berza” Skopje; R.A. (61) from Tetovo, former Director of the Agency for Commodity Reserves Skopje; T.K. (55) from Skopje, former Head of Department at the Agency for Commodity Reserves Skopje; T.D. (58) from Kumanovo, former Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Economy and State Advisor in the period 2021–2022; and M.P. (68) from Skopje, court-appointed expert.
A criminal report has been submitted to the Public Prosecutor’s Office Skopje for reasonable grounds to suspect that they committed the criminal offence “Abuse of official position and authority” under Article 353 paragraph 4 in relation to paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code. Searches were also conducted at five locations in Skopje, Kumanovo and Tetovo.
The individuals committed the offence in such a manner that N.R., R.A., T.K. and T.D., acting in their capacity as authorized officials, abused their official duties by failing to perform their official responsibilities. Although they were obliged to inform the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia about the actual situation at the Public Enterprise for Exchange Operations “Agro Berza” Skopje—namely, that an unjustified shortage of mercantile wheat and barley had occurred (during the period 2019–2021)—they submitted inaccurate data and information.
By doing so, they acted contrary to the Law on Commodity Reserves (Articles 7 paragraph 2, 9-a, 12, 13, 19, 21 and 22) and prepared a 2022 report which concluded that a write-off should be accepted for a shortage of 1,500 tons of mercantile wheat and 500 tons of barley for animal feed from the “Agro Berza” Skopje warehouse. This report was submitted to the Government for the adoption of a conclusion, despite the fact that the shortage referred to the period 2007–2021. They were aware that this period could not legally be taken into consideration, because in 2019 a full renewal of the stored wheat and barley had been carried out, and during inspections conducted annually by the Agency until 2019, no shortages had been established, with an annual evaporation allowance being issued.
Furthermore, the reported individual M.P., as an external collaborator and court-appointed expert engaged through the Bureau for Assessment, acted contrary to the provisions of the Law on Assessment (Articles 3 and 4) and contrary to Article 3 of the service contract concluded between him and the Bureau of Court Expertise. He prepared an expert opinion containing untrue data, failing to take into account all available information and complete documentation from the Agency for Commodity Reserves Skopje and the PE “Agro Berza”.
This expert opinion was attached to the information submitted to the Government, which subsequently accepted it. As a result, the Agency for Commodity Reserves Skopje was instructed to carry out a write-off of 1,500 tons of mercantile wheat and 500 tons of barley for animal feed, with a total value of 29,112,000 denars or 473,365 euros (based on purchase prices at the time of the write-off in 2022). The value of the goods at 2022 market prices amounted to 48,000,000 denars or 780,487 euros, representing financial damage to the Budget of the Republic of North Macedonia.