State Lottery trial: VLT terminals bought for €9.7 million remain in warehouse, adviser testifies
An adviser testified that the VLT terminals purchased for €9.7 million were stored unused and that the Novo VLT proposal was rushed under government pressure.
The trial against former deputy prime minister Artan Grubi and others in the State Lottery case continued with testimony from Andrej Krstevski, an economist who works as an adviser for project implementation in the office of the State Lottery's general director.
Witness: VLT terminals were bought, but remained unused in company warehouses
Under questioning by prosecutor Aleksandar Davchevski, Krstevski — who served on the board from April 2022 to October 2024 and has long-standing access to the Lottery's internal workings — described how board appointments are made and how decision-making changed after leadership shifted.
"Members of the management and supervisory boards are appointed on the government's proposal, after a prior party filter. I am currently a member of the civic initiative Green. At that time I was a member of the LDP," Krstevski said, recalling that he later served on the supervisory board, the management board and as deputy director.
He told the court that when Katica Nikolova-Parnakova was director, materials were distributed during the day and there was time to review them before meetings — often with explanations on Zoom — whereas under Perparim Bajrami materials arrived later, with less time for consideration and explanation.
Krstevski said the proposal to found Novo VLT, to organise electronic games of chance, arrived "literally at five to twelve" near the end of his mandate on the supervisory board and needed a rapid decision because of pressure from the Government. He added that Katica opposed the idea while she led the firm and was later replaced.
Regarding the purchase of the VLT terminals, the witness testified that "Bajrami called me into his office, told me the idea was to break up the monopoly, that there was a plan to procure video lottery machines. At that time I was a member of the management board but formal materials did not reach me to give a formal opinion. I learned that they had been procured only after they were bought. They were not put into operation; some solutions were still awaited," Krstevski said.
When asked about the relationship between Bajrami and Grubi, Krstevski said: "Aside from the fact that they were friendly, they were from the same party and attended party gatherings, director Bajrami addressed Grubi as 'the boss' and in the superlative."
In cross-examination, the first defendant asked whether meetings had taken place via Viber groups. "There were Viber groups, but I cannot recall that there was voting on a Viber group," Krstevski replied. He confirmed the minutes contain no notation about whether votes were taken rapidly or slowly, and said he had voted in favour of a financial plan whose total was only a framework; for a procurement of that magnitude — the VLT terminals bought for €9.7 million — the board should have been more directly involved.
The witness also told defence counsel for Bajrami that the machines remain in the State Lottery's warehouses.
Besides Grubi and Bajrami, the accused in the case are Metodija Dimevski, Skender Mehmeti, Bojan Janev and Fatmir Ramadanovski. The prosecution alleges they unlawfully enabled the purchase of machines and video lottery terminals and took steps to organise electronic games of chance despite the legal right already being granted to the company Casinos Austria. The indictment says Grubi chaired the government session at which the disputed decision affecting the State Lottery was adopted.
Photo: SDK.MK)
