Grubi leaves house arrest and offers €335,000 in guarantees for the return of his passport

Former first deputy prime minister Artan Grubi will leave house arrest next week, on 13 October, and will defend himself at liberty in the trial known as the “State Lottery” case, as Kolegium reports.

His passport has been confiscated, and his defence is seeking its return, offering as a guarantee real estate worth €335,707 so that the accused remains available to the prosecution authorities throughout the criminal proceedings, the defence statement cited in the article says. According to the same source, the prosecution must give its opinion on the request, after which the court will decide.

The house arrest measure is limited to 60 days for the charge of “abuse of official position and authority”, an offence punishable by up to five years in prison under the September 2023 amendments; the indictment was filed on 13 August. According to Kolegium, the charge was changed from “embezzlement in office” at the moment the indictment was filed, while the co-accused also include former general director Përparim Bajrami — who surrendered on 9 September at the Bllacë border crossing — as well as Metodija Dimevski, Skender Mehmedi, Bojan Janev, Fatmir Ramadanovski, Aleksandar Dimitrioski and Bashkim Avdiu.

The indictment concerns the purchase of video lottery terminals and the organisation of electronic games of chance, a right invested in 2013 in the “State Video Lottery of the Republic of Macedonia — Casinos Austria”.