English
State prosecutors are estimating the size of the enormous tax fraud and money laundering ring operating out of Strumica at 90 million EUR. This comes after the arrest of Risto Krmzov, a major Strumica businessman seen as very close to former Prime Minister Zoran Zaev, and a dozen of his accomplices and tax agents.
According to the charges, presented at a press briefing today, the activities that were investigated covered the period of 2019 to 2024. A total of 15 individuals and 23 companies have been investigated, and are found to have signed fake contracts for sales of real-estate and other properties, for which they later received tax rebates. All the real-estate that was being sold was owned by Krmzov, and he used fake companies and stolen identities for Kosovo for a portion of the trades that were made.
Tax agents were expected to inspect these obviously fraudulent activities, but they did not act, leading to suspicions that Krmzov ties to Zaev helped him avoid scrutiny.
The investigation also includes the failed Eurostandard Bank, whose owner Trifun Kostovski said that he was the target of Strumica based businessmen supported by Zaev.
Krmzov was ordered into 30 days of detention to prevent him from fleeing the country and influencing witnesses.
