The former head of the Customs Administration, Stefan Bogoev, is going into 30 days of detention after the court rejected his defence's offer - bail in cash and property - to avoid jail. The Basic Criminal Court in Skopje ruled on a request from the Prosecutor's Office for Organised Crime and Corruption. Along with him, three other suspects were each handed 30 days of detention.

The case concerns a rigged public tender for cleaning the border crossings and customs terminals, in the period from July 2023 to March 2024. According to the prosecution, the procedure was manipulated to favour a particular economic operator and limit competition. The amount of the allegedly unlawfully gained benefit comes to 18,479,692 denars - a figure that doesn't fit easily into the picture of a „minor irregularity.”

The defence isn't hiding its displeasure. Lawyer Sanja Aleksić described the detention ruling as unexpected: „It's unexpected, honestly. Especially because this is a financial matter, not a violent crime.” She argues the accused's presence could have been secured with lighter measures combined with the bail on offer, and announced an appeal.

The argument „financial, not violent crime” sounds logical - but it also raises a question rarely asked out loud: why does detention look stricter than usual precisely in cases involving public money? Perhaps because when millions of denars from the budget are at stake, fleeing from accountability isn't measured only in kilometres. The appeal will follow; so will the court's answer.