At Skopje's Basic Criminal Court, prosecutors have presented all 231 pieces of material evidence in the "State Lottery" case. Government decisions, stenographic records, Supervisory Board minutes, bank statements, invoices for video lottery terminals. In that whole pile of paper, at least so far, there hasn't been a single conversation, text message, email exchange or record of a meeting between former First Deputy Prime Minister Artan Grubi and former Lottery director Perparim Bajrami.

That doesn't mean the indictment collapses. Prosecutors aren't building their case on messages in the first place, but on a series of decisions that, in their view, each of the defendants made from their own post. And the damage, according to the amended indictment, is no longer around 8.2 million euros, but around 9.7 million.

The session of 6 June 2023

The key scene is the 158th government session, chaired by Grubi. According to the indictment, then-Secretary General of the Government Metodija Dimovski added Bajrami's information on "independently organising electronic games of chance" to the agenda as a supplementary item, instead of sending it back to its author. The government, acting as the shareholders' assembly of the joint-stock company, adopted it, and the Lottery was tasked with procuring video lottery terminals. When the evidence from that session came up in the courtroom, Grubi asked to speak. Judge Biljana Šuplinovska-Jovevski told him he'd have the chance later in the proceedings.

The dispute boils down to one question: did the Lottery even have the right to do this? In 2013, the state company contributed precisely that right as a non-cash contribution worth 6,244,898 euros to a joint company with Casinos Austria, and received a 51 percent stake in return. In 2022, the Austrian partner wrote to the government that only the joint company could organise electronic games. Prosecutors say the right had long since stopped belonging to the Lottery. The defence says it hadn't.

"The evidence itself shows that the defendants not only did not commit the offences, but acted on the government's instructions and protected the state's interest as members of the Supervisory Board," said lawyer Jordan Apostolski, who represents defendant Bojan Janev. In his view, the indictment is "weak, vague and contradictory".

Read that defence again. The Supervisory Board members are saying: we didn't decide, the government did. The prosecution is saying: that's exactly the problem - the government decided something that wasn't within its powers. Both sides are, in fact, pointing at the same table.

Flight, surrender, courtroom

Grubi and Bajrami fled to Kosovo in December 2024. Grubi turned himself in in February 2026. All eight defendants are charged with abuse of official position and authority, which carries a prison sentence of one to five years.

The witness phase is next. Among the witnesses is the current director of the State Lottery, Aleksandar Klimovski, who is to state his position on the property claim and whether the company is joining the prosecution. It sounds like a formality. But that very answer will show whether the state really considers that 9.7 million euros its own money.