Vasko MagleshovSkopjeBIRNMarch 14, 202317:48BIRN has learned that the ex-manager of the company supervising major highway constructions in North Macedonia is a suspect in the ‘Skopje 2014’ fraud case, following revelations that the company’s owner is wanted for fraud in Armenia.
The facade of the government HQ in Skopje started falling apart in 2020. Photo: BIRN
Marjan Ivanov, former manager of Euro Consulting, the company that has been engaged to supervise the construction of stretches of the cross-European highway corridors 8 and 10d in North Macedonia, is a suspect in a fraud investigation related to the former government’s grandiose revamp of the capital, ‘Skopje 2014’, BIRN has learned.
Ivanov was ordered a year ago to report to the Criminal Court once a week as a suspect in an investigation related to the construction of a baroque facade for the government building that was completed as part of the ‘Skopje 2014’.
The revelation about Ivanov emerged a week after BIRN also revealed that the owner of Euro Consulting, Branislav Dimitrijevic, is wanted by Armenia for large-scale fraud in the construction of the Caucasus country’s north-south corridor when he was a team leader with the Savage-Eptisa consortium.
Euro Consulting, together with another company from North Macedonia, Electra Solution and the Spanish firm Eptisa are part of the Italian IRD consortium that won the tender for the supervision of the highway sections in North Macedonia that are to be built by the US-Turkish consortium Bechtel-ENKA.
Passport confiscated
It emerged in April 2022 that North Macedonia’s Public Prosecutor’s Office for organised crime and corruption had opened a case related to the facade of the government building, which is part of the Skopje 2014 project, instigated and funded by the former government then led by authoritarian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski. Parts of the new facade crumbled to the ground last year, despite being only few years old.
The prosecution had four suspects – the manager of the company Bauer BG, the ex-director of the government’s Service for General and Common Affairs, the manager of the expert supervision company Euro Consulting and the chief supervising engineer.
The owner of Bauer BG is suspected of rigging the tender procedure by submitting dubious proof that the company meets the conditions. The other three are suspected of abusing their official position and authority.
The facade of the government HQ in Skopje started falling apart in 2020. Photo: BIRN
The manager, Ivanov, and the chief supervising engineer are accused of misleading the authorities by confirming that the proper materials were used when affixing the new faux Baroque facade to the old modernist building, even though other materials were actually used instead.
The Prosecutor’s Office told BIRN that the court approved its request for Ivanov’s passport, and that of the chief supervising engineer, to be confiscated. They also have to report to the court once a week.
The Prosecutor’s Office said that at the time of the offence, the two men were “the manager of the legal entity that performed the supervision [of the façade project] and the chief supervising engineer”.
Ivanov’s passport was confiscated on April 8 last year. He left Euro Consulting 13 days later.
The company worked on a total of 11 buildings in the ‘Skopje 2014’ revamp project, and promoted its involvement on its website.
Among them, they worked on the facades of the building that houses the public company that runs the national electricity grid, MEPSO, the Foreign Ministry building, and the Ministry of Transport and Communications building.
The crumbling facade of the government building remains unrepaired.
Source link: balkaninsight.com
