State Lottery trial hearing postponed; next session on 11 November 2026
The Basic Criminal Court in Skopje rescheduled the session; Bajrami released on property guarantee of 1.140.781 euro.
The court hearing in the "State Lottery" case that was due to take place on 6 November 2026 at the Basic Criminal Court in Skopje was postponed; the next session is set for 11 November 2026.
Among the accused in the case are former First Deputy Prime Minister Artan Grubi, the former director of AD "State Lottery" Perparim Bajrami, and six other individuals.
The most recent hearing was held on 30 October 2026, when Andrej Krstevski — an advisor for project implementation at AD "State Lottery", formerly a member of the Management and Supervisory Boards and a deputy director of the company — testified about how decisions were taken within the enterprise and about the procurement procedure for VLT terminals.
Testimony and procedural developments
Answering questions from the prosecution concerning the VLT-terminal procurement, Krstevski said he was personally informed about the idea by Bajrami and added that he learned about the completed procurement procedure only afterwards from persons who had been members of the commissions charged with carrying out the procedures.
On 3 November 2026 the Criminal Council at the Basic Criminal Court in Skopje lifted the detention measure for Bajrami and accepted a property guarantee in immovable assets in the amount of 1.140.781 euro. In addition to the guarantee, precautionary measures were imposed, including confiscation of his passport and regular reporting to the court.
Other defendants named in the indictment are Bashkim Avdi, Metodija Dimovski, Skender Mehmeti, Bojan Janev, Fatmir Ramadanovski and Aleksandar Dimitrioski. The indictment alleges that by exceeding official powers they caused damage to AD "State Lottery" in the amount of 596.125.511 denars. All defendants have pleaded not guilty to date. The prosecution is represented by public prosecutors Daniel Kocev and Aleksandar Davchevski, and the proceedings are presided over by Judge Biljana Shuplinovska-Jovevski.
Photo: press material from the event
