Interior Ministry: Skopje Man Pocketed Vehicle Registration Fees for Five Years, Budget Short 6.8 Million Denars

The Financial Crime Unit has filed a criminal complaint with the Public Prosecutor's Office for Prosecuting Organised Crime and Corruption against a 47-year-old Skopje man, I.S., for embezzlement in office and money laundering, as well as against a Skopje company for money laundering. According to the Interior Ministry, the state budget lost 6,803,900 denars, or around 110,000 euros.

I.S., as an authorised person at a company that carried out vehicle roadworthiness tests, allegedly prepared and submitted false reports on the fees collected at registration from January 2021 to January 2026. The reports went to the Public Enterprise for State Roads, the Red Cross, the Republic Council for Road Traffic Safety, the Ministry of Environment and the municipalities, in other words to the institutions the money belongs to.

The money, according to the police, didn't sit still. In cooperation with a person identified as S.S., through two companies and an insurance brokerage firm from Skopje, the funds were moved from account to account and mixed with income from regular business. To hide their origin, loans, joint construction contracts and the buying and selling of property and vehicles were used. Part of the money was meant for buying real estate and movable property for the reported company.

These fees aren't a donation. Every driver pays them at the counter when registering a car, with no choice, on the assurance that they go to roads, road safety and the environment. If the Interior Ministry is right, for five years not one of the institutions that were supposed to receive the money noticed the numbers didn't add up. Who was reading those reports?

The complaint was filed on 15 October, and the allegations have yet to be proven in court.