Krmov: Makedonija Pat — Shtip went 25 days this summer without fuel; Nikoloski accuses a 'gang' of lawyers and valuers

A Levica MP said this summer the Shtip branch of Makedonija Pat went without fuel for 25 days, halting major maintenance work and forcing smaller jobs to borrow fuel from colleagues in Kočani. Operators were placed on forced leave, while many employees reportedly lack personal protective equipment for “a year and a half.”

Transport Minister Nikoloski responded by attributing the situation to long-running criminal practices within the state road company, saying the enterprise had been left with a 34 million debt and that procurement and service contracts had been massively overpriced.

Allegations of organised claims and inflated invoices

Levica MP Borislav Krmov told the assembly he had seen the Shtip branch’s operations crippled by the shortages and by poor working conditions. “A large portion of the employees have nothing — they work in tracksuits and jeans, and I remind you that by doing so you are breaking the law,” Krmov said.

Nikoloski described what he called an organised scheme around the company that produced heavy losses. "Only for dog‑strike claims there were awarded damages of 11 million euros. They have formed a gang of lawyers, appraisers and experts, and it turns out that, up to 2024, when the director was the one who beat his wife, Kostadin Acevski, every day dogs were being struck on vehicles. After 2024 they somehow reduced the dog strikes," the minister said, listing court rulings that ordered the company to pay debts with interest despite allegedly inflated prices.

The minister said he had asked the Public Prosecutor’s Office to examine the audit report and the more than 20 criminal complaints he has signed, seeking criminal investigation of the cases he described.

Opposition and government tensions widened during the session. SDSM renewed calls for the resignation of Minister Ivan Stoiljkovic and demanded an apology over a pre‑holiday exchange with their MP Trajchulevski and for a party post that praised Ratko Mladić.

“This arbitrariness of Stoiljkovic, the protection he receives, raises the question why? What exactly does he bring to Mickoski’s government, beyond a personal link to the Serbian Progressive Party and Aleksandar Vučić?” asked SDSM MP Jovana Trenchevska. VMRO‑DPMNE’s parliamentary coordinator replied that questions about a minister should be raised when he is present. “Stoiljkovic will come, you will ask him. You mention the ‘Serbian world’ and Vučić — that is the same Vučić whom you applauded with Filipche at sub‑zero temperatures at the border for a single box of vaccines? It is the same Vučić,” Micevski said, admonishing Trenchevska that the sitting is for questions rather than press conferences.

Photo: press material from the event