Vase Anakiev: inspector testifies she was ordered to block five fertilizer trucks

An inspector at the State Agricultural Inspectorate testified in court that she was ordered by superiors — including former director Vase Anakiev — to stop five trucks carrying bulk fertilizer at the Delchevo border crossing, and that following those orders she fell ill with high blood pressure and elevated blood sugar.

Chronology and the bust with 50,000 euros

Vesna Velinovska, a phytosanitary inspector who handled the specific import by the company Manovi from Delchevo, said the events began on March 2, 2026, when the inspection team was called to the Delchevo crossing to check whether the fertilizer shipment was compliant. She told prosecutor Iskra Hadzhivasileva that her supervisor instructed which documents to demand because "bulk fertilizer should not enter."

"Chronologically, the events began on March 2, 2026. We were called to the Delchevo border crossing to inspect whether the fertilizer was OK. The head gave me instructions which documents to request, because bulk fertilizer should not enter. We told the forwarding agents not to send trucks until the situation was resolved, but on March 6 one truck entered, and then four more. On the sixth I called to ask how to proceed because there was a ban. The five trucks were from 'Manovi' from Delchevo. They did not reply to my email," Velinovska testified.

Prosecutors say Anakiev was caught with 50,000 euros in a garage at the residential complex where former agriculture minister Cvetan Tripunovski lives. He faces an indictment for accepting a bribe after the Manovi brothers accused him of demanding 100,000 euros to allow five trucks with fertilizer to pass the border.

Velinovska said she received repeated instructions from her supervisor to return the trucks under Article 19 of the Fertilizer Law, and that she clarified with colleagues and outside counsel before acting. "I told her that Article 19 relates to placing products on the Macedonian market, and Article 20 is about imports," she said when asked why she had to explain the law.

She described receiving pressure to reverse her normal practice: "I had pressure to return the trucks back, to work opposite to what I had done before. That is why I decided to write to the director. I also consulted a lawyer so I would not make a mistake. I spoke with the president of the union. Everyone told me that bulk fertilizer should be allowed in."

According to Velinovska, the five Manovi trucks arrived on March 6 and remained at the border for a week; they were sent back to Bulgaria on March 13. She testified that on March 7 Anakiev told her he had consulted lawyers and that until then the practice had been outside the law, ordering the trucks to be returned.

Velinovska said she formally entered a ban and later stamped the fertilizer analysis. She told the court that the emailed ban on importing bulk fertilizer remained in force, and that the ban e-mail was signed by three supervisors and by director Vase Anakiev himself. She also stated that, apart from ammonium nitrate (which is regulated as explosive), Macedonian law does not prohibit import of bulk urea—the substance in this case.

Photo: SDK.MK)