30 Days' Detention for Bogoev: 1,800 Euros in Bribes for a 300,000 Tender - How Many Similar Ones Passed Unnoticed?

The former director of the Customs Administration, Stefan Bogoev, ended up in 30-day detention together with three other suspects - for abuse in public procurement and bribery. The Basic Criminal Court in Skopje accepted the prosecution's reasons: risk of flight and of influencing witnesses.

The charge concerns a rigged tender for external sanitary maintenance of border crossings and terminals, in the period July 2023 - March 2024. According to the prosecution, the suspects favoured a particular economic operator and restricted competition, securing the chosen firm an unlawful gain of 18,479,692 denars.

The figure that stings the most is another - the alleged bribe Bogoev received amounts to 111,600 denars (about 1,800 euros). For that much, the prosecution claims, an official position was put at someone's disposal and a tender worth around 300,000 euros was shaped.

Besides Bogoev, also in detention are the former assistant director at Customs, a company owner and an employee of the same firm. Prosecutor Iskra Hadživasileva judged the measures „justified and proportionate" given the evidence.

Bogoev is no random name - a former mayor of Karpoš and an official. And precisely for that reason the case will be read through a political prism, regardless of what is actually at stake. The question that remains for the citizen is simpler than the politics: if 1,800 euros in bribes shapes a 300,000 tender, how many similar arrangements passed unnoticed over the years - and why does this one surface now?