Ivanovska: Lottery signed Stardast contract on May 8, same day call closed
Ivanovska says documents show the 300 million denar deal was concluded and signed the same day the public tender ended, raising questions about process and timing.
Biljana Ivanovska, the former chair of the Commission for Prevention of Corruption, has accused the State Lottery and the company Stardast of planning the contract for the 35th-anniversary Independence Day celebration in advance, after documents show the agreement was signed on the same day the public call closed.
Ivanovska commented on documents that were obtained through the Ministry of Justice and published by the media, saying the contract between the State Lottery and Stardast was concluded on May 8 — the identical day the public call ended — and that the paperwork indicates an unusually rapid handling: the three-member evaluation committee reportedly reviewed a roughly 100-page programme, the contract was drafted for 300,000,000 denars and signed that same day by State Lottery director Aleksandar Klimovski and Stardast manager Mia Miloševska. Ivanovska added that the committee chair, Nikolche Micevski, later appeared as a programme participant credited with orchestrations for José Carreras.
Questions about timing and funding
Quoting Ivanovska directly, she asked: "And now? Who is the idiot?" She recalled Klimovski's statement at a press conference where he said that, on May 8 at 10:41, the only bid from Stardast arrived at the Lottery's offices and by the end of the day the offer had been reviewed, the contract drafted and signed.
Other documents show the Ministry of Justice issued a decision on September 16 confirming the Lottery's sponsorship of Stardast as a matter of public interest in culture, but only after the events were completed. The request from the State Lottery to the ministry is dated August 12, three days after the caravan and the programme "Silno svetnal den" began.
At a later press briefing, Boban Milošeski of Avalon International Booking replied sharply to a journalist who had asked why the fee for a performance had not been disclosed, saying, "Do I look like an idiot?" He later publicly apologized to the journalist, Miroslava Simonovska, and her outlet, saying his reaction came
Photo: press material from the event
