A total of 244 million euros have been lost from the state budget over the past decade, according to an analysis by Radio Free Europe on 30 high-profile court cases. Prosecutors requested the confiscation of property worth around 62 million euros from a dozen defendants, with the court approving confiscations in five cases amounting to 49 million euros. Former Prime Minister Gruevski’s apartments are still awaiting a decision from the government.

According to Radio Free Europe’s analysis of 30 high-profile court cases in the last ten years, it appears that nearly 62 million euros could be seized on paper by the Asset Recovery Agency, should the court approve prosecutors’ requests to confiscate criminally acquired property.

In the analyzed cases, the court ruled to seize property worth 49 million euros out of the 62 million requested in five of the 30 cases. If these funds had been collected, the state could have used them to pay interest for the first three years of the Hungarian loan or build at least 30 new schools.

These confiscation rulings, however, are still not fully implemented or collected, even years after they became final. This includes cases such as “Empire,” where former head of the Counterintelligence Directorate Sasho Mijalkov, businessman Jordan Kamchev (who is on the U.S. sanctions list), former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski (for the “Vodno plots” case), businessman Sead Kočan in the “Trust” case, former intelligence officers Nikola Boškoski, Toni Jakomoski, and Goran Grujevski, and businesswoman Vera Ivanova in the “Diamed” case.

However, in reality, the bank account of the Agency is much “lighter.”

In 2022, Mijalkov and Kamchev paid 11.3 million euros into the state budget. The plan was to sell real estate and bank shares as part of the confiscation, but two years later, much of this property is still unsold, and some are awaiting government approval for auction.

Mijalkov had assets worth 15 million euros confiscated. Although the state hoped to collect 21 million euros from the sale of this property, this has not materialized, and the total amount collected is far below expectations.

In 2023, the Agency for Confiscation of Assets publicly complained about pressure from Mijalkov’s family to prevent the sale of seized apartments. Three apartments, valued at 330,200 euros, were bought by the firm Best Way Investment, owned by his son, Jordan Mijalkov. These apartments, located on Vodno, near Mijalkov’s house, were confiscated as part of the “Empire” case.

So far, the Agency has sold two apartments in Ohrid and land in the village of Radnja (between Demir Kapija and Kavadarci) worth 250,000 euros, along with three apartments and a garage worth 332,000 euros, totaling nearly 600,000 euros returned to the budget.

Gruevski’s apartments, which were confiscated, are still waiting for sale approval from both the previous and current governments, despite a final court ruling from a year and a half ago. Their estimated value is 1.9 million euros.

Another property, the plots on Vodno shared between Gruevski and Mijalkov, remains in state ownership. According to the investigation by “BIRN Prizma,” the municipality of Centar wants the construction permits for mansions to be revoked, but the Agency insists on keeping them as construction plots.

A major confiscation is still pending, as in the “Trust” case, where businessman Sead Kočan was convicted for an illegal coal mining tender in REK Bitola in 2011, which remains mired in legal procedures. A bankruptcy procedure has “saved” much of Kočan’s property, which has not been transferred to state ownership for years. The Agency claimed that this confiscation is unfeasible.

The next largest confiscation, awaiting final judgment, is from the “Diamed” case, where the goal was to monopolize the market with a 20-year license and a substantial increase in the value of Ivanova’s shares instead of performing dialysis procedures. The confiscation totals over 11 million euros, with 3.2 million euros to be confiscated from Ivanova, and 8.2 million euros from a company involved in the case.

Last year, the Agency sold assets worth 1.6 million euros.

On February 13, 2024, the latest announcement for the sale of confiscated assets by the Agency for Asset Management was made. The auction included seven vehicles, but since then, there have been no other public sales of confiscated movable and immovable property.

The delay has been attributed to the 2024 election year and the change in the Agency’s leadership, as stated by the new director, Irena Ilievska.

In the past six months, the government has not granted approval for the sale of confiscated assets, according to data from the Official Gazette. This agency was only mentioned twice in government sessions: once when the previous director, Driton Nebiu, was replaced, and again when members of the management board were changed.

The last decision for the approval of confiscated property sale was signed by the former Deputy Prime Minister Artan Grubi on February 13 last year. This concerned a plot of land owned by Mijalkov in the village of Morani, near Studenichani, valued at 200,000 euros.

These are just a few of the cases in which the court has ruled for the confiscation of property obtained through criminal means. According to statistical data from the non-governmental organization “All for Fair Trials,” courts order the confiscation of assets in less than one-fifth of analyzed cases.

However, the issue doesn’t only lie in the small number of confiscation rulings. Many cases in which the state was harmed have not received a court ruling.

Over a decade, the state budget has been damaged by 244 million euros.

Data from the 30 high-profile cases analyzed shows that at least 244 million euros have ended up in private pockets over the past ten years.

In many of those cases, the crimes of “organized crime” and “abuse of office” have expired due to the statute of limitations.

In some cases, prosecutors from the Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office stopped proceedings, leaving the state with no resolution.

According to Chief Prosecutor Ljupcho Kocevsky, four cases involving damages of around 10 million euros are currently stuck in the appeals process.

Disciplinary proceedings have been initiated against prosecutors Jovan Cvetanoski and his superior Mustafa Hajrulahi for withdrawing appeals in these cases.