Indictment filed against Artan Grubi in State Lottery case; prosecutors seek continuation of house arrest

The Basic Public Prosecutor's Office Skopje has filed an indictment against eight individuals in the case known as the "State Lottery", alleging misuse that caused damage amounting to 507,632,173 denars.

Measures requested and key accusations

Prosecutors asked the court to order 30 days of pre-trial detention for the former director Perparim Bajrami, who is currently at large. For the former Deputy Prime Minister Artan Grubi they proposed a continuation of his house arrest. The other accused persons were ordered to report periodically to the court, had their travel or other border-crossing documents temporarily confiscated, and face prohibitions on approaching or maintaining contact with certain individuals.

The indictment states that the Joint-stock company for organizing games of chance, State Lottery of the Republic of North Macedonia, did not have the right to operate electronic games on video-lottery terminals in the country because in 2013 it invested that right as a non-monetary contribution with a value of 6,244,898 euros when founding the company for organizing games of chance State Videolottery of the Republic of Macedonia - KASINOS AUSTRIA DOO Skopje and thereby acquired a 51% share in the company's capital.

According to the filing, on 09.05.2023 the first accused — the general director and chairman of the Management Board of State Lottery — delivered an Information to the third accused, the General Secretary of the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia, proposing steps for independently organizing electronic games of chance. In that Information, which included proposed conclusions, he stated that the value of the procurement amounted to 42% of the accounting value of the company's assets based on the latest financial reports, and that as such it would constitute a major transaction whose approval fell within the competence of the supervisory board of the company.

The indictment further says that on 06.06.2023 the General Secretary proposed this Information as an addition to the government session agenda, acting contrary to Article 119, paragraph 2 of the Rules of Procedure of the Government of the Republic of North Macedonia, and failed to return the Information to its submitter or forward it to the competent body. The second accused, who allegedly had real influence over the management of the State Lottery, chaired a government session in the capacity of the assembly of the State Lottery and urged that the supplemented agenda item be adopted despite being aware that the decision was not within the competence of the Government acting as the assembly of the joint-stock company.

Members of the supervisory board, including its chair, are accused of approving the initiation of a public procurement procedure for video-lottery terminals for operating electronic games of chance even though they knew the legal procedure had not been followed. The procurement was carried out, payment obligations were assumed, and the State Lottery suffered the damage in the amount stated in the indictment.

Photo: press material from the event