The "Mazut" case is going back to court - maybe. ESM has filed an appeal with the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office against the decision to drop the year-long investigation into the procurement of mazut for TEC Negotino. The disputed amount: 167 million euros in damage to the state through abuse of public procurement and money laundering.

Prime Minister Kristijan Mickoski called the decision to drop the investigation "scandalous." Spokesman Antonio Milosovski said the appeal "provides legal grounds" for reviewing the decision - which was issued by prosecutors Kolarević and Abazi.

The opposition Levica openly asks: why didn't the public prosecutor Saveski use the legal mechanisms available? Were there political instructions to drop the case? These are questions the Public Prosecutor's Office has yet to answer - and they are not questions Macedonian society should wait around for.

The investigation covered 13 people and one company. Among them - businessman Asmir Jahoski and former ESM directors. Prosecutors say there wasn't enough evidence for a court process. But 167 million euros don't vanish without a trace. The money was paid out, the mazut was procured, and the investigation lasted a year. A conclusion of "insufficient evidence" after that much time suggests one of two things: either Macedonia's system for proving corruption doesn't work, or someone doesn't want it to work.

VMRO-DPMNE views the ESM appeal as "evidence of a selective investigation." The accusation is serious - it implies that Kolarević and Abazi are allegedly close to people from SDS and DUI. Whether that's political manipulation or factual accusation depends on what the Higher Prosecutor's Office determines with the appeal.

For Macedonian citizens, the question is simpler: why do 167 million euros go missing and never come back, without a single person held accountable? That's the cost of refurbishing TEC Negotino, the cost of five kindergartens, or the cost of a new hospital. An investigation that doesn't start, or an investigation that's dropped without reason - both mean the same thing. The money is lost, and no one is to blame.