At the homes of two people connected to the professional examination for dentists, police found 65,280 euros, 29,840 Swiss francs and 161,500 denars. In cash. That is the sum the police counted during the searches - not the sum anyone had declared as income.

The story is simple, and that is exactly what makes it devastating. A 27-year-old dentistry student from Bitola transferred money to the bank account of a professor at her faculty - a 56-year-old from Gostivar, a former vice-president of the Dental Chamber. The arrangement, according to police, was made over Viber in December 2025. The professor was to lean on the third man in the chain: the 63-year-old head of the Ministry of Health's Commission for Professional Examinations of Healthcare Workers with Higher Education.

On 17 December 2025 the student sat the exam. She got her certificate. According to the police report - without having the required knowledge.

What this means for the patient in the chair

The professional exam is not a formality. It is the last barrier between someone who finished university and someone allowed to enter your mouth with a drill. When that barrier can be bought over Viber for a few thousand euros, the question isn't how scandalous this case is. The question is how many such certificates are circulating.

Because this is not a scheme invented in December. The scheme has three participants who know each other, know how payment works, know which account to use and know who needs to talk to whom. That isn't beginners improvising. That is a routine somebody has worn smooth.

Criminal complaints have been filed with the Basic Public Prosecutor's Office for Organised Crime and Corruption - for giving and receiving a reward for unlawful influence, and for taking a bribe. All three are suspects, not convicts.

But the cash lying around those homes tells the story the complaint isn't allowed to tell: 65,000 euros is not the fee for a single exam. If that's true, only one question remains - how many exams, and over how many years?