Prosecution witness testified in favour of Grubi and Bajrami: declared a “hostile witness” in the State Lottery trial

At today’s hearing of the “Lotarija” case at the Skopje Basic Criminal Court, the prosecution’s first witness, Vlado Petkovski — director of the gambling sector at “Državna lotarija” — testified, but in favour of the defendants: former deputy prime minister Artan Grubi and former director Perparim Bajrami, who are being tried in absentia, as the newspaper Fokus and TV21 television report.

During the investigation phase, Petkovski had been questioned as a suspect and had given answers favourable to the prosecution; later he was dropped from the indictment and declared a witness — and now, in the courtroom, he gave opposite answers, in favour of the defendants. For this reason, the prosecution asked that he be questioned as a hostile witness.

Petkovski, an electrical engineer by profession, employed at the lottery since late 2017, had held several management positions. Asked to compare the two general directors, he said that under Katica Nikolovska there were almost no new projects, while after Bajrami’s arrival new projects were proactively implemented to increase the lottery’s profit: the company “Novo VLT”, the Megavin internet platform owned by the lottery itself, independent electronic gambling games, and three internet companies through joint ventures with a private partner. He said the procurement of VLT terminals in 2023 had followed a financial plan, feasibility studies and a positive opinion from the Public Revenue Office (UJP) — but the process was blocked after the authentic interpretation of the Law on Games of Chance, for lack of consent from the Ministry of Finance.

He denied knowing the reasons for the replacement of former director Katica Nikolovska; he denied that Bajrami had told him “I do nothing without Grubi’s knowledge”, and denied having taken part in a 2024 meeting with Grubi and Bajrami; he said he had no direct knowledge of any friendship between Grubi and Bajrami. Grubi’s lawyer, Goce Ristoski, reacted by asking that the courtroom not be turned into a circus.

The other defendants are Metodija Dimevski, Skender Mehmedi, Bojan Janev, Fatmir Ramadanovski, Aleksandar Dimitrioski and Bashkim Avdiu. The indictment, represented by prosecutors Daniel Kocev and Aleksandar Davčevski, covers the years 2023–2024, with damages of 9.7 million euros to “Državna lotarija”; the charge was requalified from embezzlement to abuse of official duty (1–5 years in prison), because the investigation did not secure sufficient evidence. The trial continues.