Who should clarify the helicopter procurement scandal involving Slavjanka Petrovska?

VMRO-DPMNE and SDSM have spent days exchanging accusations over who should clarify the controversy surrounding the state’s purchase of military helicopters carried out while Slavjanka Petrovska was defence minister.

The dispute escalated after Filipche publicly asked whether Petrovska’s participation in a platform calling for reforms from SDSM was an attempt to shield herself from a scandal: he alleged the contract for the helicopters was €37 million more expensive than the initial decision by the commission. VMRO-DPMNE demanded that Filipche present proof.

"Since when does he know about this scandal linked to Petrovska and does he intend to submit evidence to the prosecution, or will this too be just to mislead the public?" asked Brane Petrushevski of VMRO-DPMNE.

SDSM counters and points to institutions

SDSM replied that the archive of evidence is held by the institution they now run and that their repeated reports produced no results while they were in opposition. The party also shifted responsibility to law-enforcement and the current Ministry of Defence.

"The difference in the price for the helicopters is at the Ministry of Defence. There you have a minister. You have a prosecutor, you have the police. When you check that, also check that railway tender, 1.6 million for Ćurkčiev. And that advance for Platform 2.0," SDSM responded.

The row concerns the contract for helicopters from the Italian company Leonardo intended for the army. At the time, then-defence minister Slavjanka Petrovska insisted the procurement process was fully correct and based on the work of an expert team.

The political back-and-forth leaves open who will provide documentary evidence or prompt a formal investigation into the price difference and the procurement decisions. Daliborka Demjanska Cvetanovska

Photo: press material from the event