English
Searches are being conducted today at 32 locations in Skopje, involving individuals, private homes, and offices within the Interior Ministry – announced the Skopje Office of Public Prosecutors, which launched an investigation into a scheme for issuing forged driver’s licenses.
The Prosecutor’s Office added that other measures are being taken to secure evidence regarding suspected criminal activity—specifically, the crime of document forgery under Article 378 of the Criminal Code. The Ministry of Interior announced this morning that it is conducting a new operation related to the illegal issuance and forgery of driver’s licenses.
The Ministry is conducting a coordinated operation today involving searches at multiple locations due to suspicions regarding the illegal issuance and forgery of driver’s licenses for categories C and D, the Ministry confirmed. They stated that the operation is currently underway with the aim of resolving the cases and securing material evidence.
Today’s operation follows an investigation launched last month by the Internal Control unit, after it was discovered that administrative staff were illegally adding higher vehicle categories to the driver’s licenses of individuals who had not passed the required exams for operating trucks or buses. The scheme operated by having citizens falsely report a lost driver’s license and submit an application for a new one. During the photographing and processing of the documents, corrupt officials within the Ministry of Interior’s administrative services would mark the requested higher vehicle categories in the system even though the driver did not pass the test. It was rumored that they charged a fee of around 1,400 EUR for this service.
It is suspected that more than 300 driver’s licenses had been falsified in this manner, and some of the officials involved had previously been linked to the fake passport scandal.