VMRO-DPMNE is officially demanding the resignation of Islam Abazi, head of the Public Prosecutor's Office for Prosecuting Organised Crime and Corruption (OJO for GOKK). The trigger: the decision to terminate the procedure on the TEC Negotino fuel case - a case worth over 167 million euros, with suspicions of public procurement violations, money laundering and damage to the state budget.

According to the opposition, the termination of the procedure saves Vasko Kapuševski (SDS) and Asmir Jahoski (son of a senior DUI figure). Those are the two names that stood at the top of the „crime of the century" as the government of the day called it before 2024. Governments change, prime ministers change. But it seems that for certain cases in the judicial system, nothing changes.

„Justice in Macedonia has once again been placed in the service of SDS and DUI," reads the VMRO-DPMNE statement. „Islam Abazi is lying when he says he didn't exercise influence on any prosecutor to bring such a decision."

The opposition stresses that as head of the OJO for GOKK, Abazi receives weekly reports on major cases and has the authority to continue the procedure or transfer it to another prosecutor. That is an institutional fact - Abazi isn't „passive" in the hierarchy.

From the other side, the prosecution announced that the evidence gathered did not establish reasonable suspicion that a criminal offence had been committed. More precisely: the fuel was delivered in an energy crisis, there was a statutory exemption from the regular procedures, and no damage was caused to the state.

The question behind the whole story is less legal, more systemic. How can we have a case with 167 million euros of potential damage that suddenly has „no evidence"? How did the prosecution manage to declare it the „crime of the century", investigate it for two years, and now conclude „there's nothing there"? Both claims can't be true at the same time.

This „declare-investigate-close with no explanation" train is what erodes trust in the justice system more powerfully than any opposition. And it isn't something any one government can fix with another reform. It turns our justice into the business of justice by selection, not by principle. That's a serious problem.

Will Abazi resign? No. Will VMRO-DPMNE really push it as a priority? It depends on the moment. Until then - the 167-million-euro case is closed. Quietly.