Head of Bitola's Higher Prosecution Office Loses His Passport: Suspected of Lobbying for Lighter Sentences in at Least Four Cases

The man who runs the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Bitola - the institution that oversees the basic prosecution offices in Bitola, Prilep, Ohrid, Struga and Resen - was left yesterday without his passport and barred from performing certain work duties. The precautionary measures were imposed by a pre-trial judge at the Skopje Basic Criminal Court, at the request of the Office for Prosecuting Organised Crime and Corruption (OJO GOKK).

Officially, the institutions hide him behind initials: "P.V. (61) from Prilep", suspected of the crime of "accepting a reward for unlawful influence". The name is already out in public - it is Peco Veziroski, who has headed the Bitola Higher Prosecution Office since September 30, 2022.

Lobbying for lower sentences in at least four cases

According to OJO GOKK, special investigative measures have produced evidence of reasonable suspicion that he used his official position and real influence to sway the decisions of fellow prosecutors and judges in at least four cases in the area he covers. He lobbied, the prosecution claims, for lower sentences or a better position for suspects and defendants in criminal proceedings.

The day before, his home and the premises of the Higher Prosecution Office were searched. Phones, a computer and USB drives were seized. For a crime with the word "reward" in its very name, the official statements so far say not a word about money.

The shadow of another passport

The prosecutor's name has come up in public before - over the passport of Bitola businessman Borče Markovski, the first defendant in a tender worth more than 1.7 million euros for relocating stations from the Oslomej mine to the REK Bitola power complex. The Basic Prosecution Office in Struga gave a negative opinion on returning his passport, but the Bitola Higher Prosecution Office asked for a positive one to be issued. The Struga court returned his passport, and Markovski left the country via the Tabanovce crossing, only to return later.

Is that very case among the four? This is where the information diverges. Some media link the investigation to Markovski, while a source from the investigation claims that case is not among the four for now and that other cases are also being examined.

On July 31 in Bitola, Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski spoke of "gross manipulation by a local public prosecutor" and promised to follow the process personally. Levica, meanwhile, had earlier filed a complaint with the Council of Public Prosecutors against Veziroski for failing to act in a case about illegal construction in Struga.

The prosecutor in charge did not request detention, so the court, as it says itself, could not impose a stricter measure than the one proposed. Prosecutors are prosecuting the prosecutor who allegedly pressured prosecutors. And citizens of five towns are entitled to one simple question: who will now review the verdicts handed down under that kind of "lobbying"?