VMRO-DPMNE named one of the companies at the heart of the growing scandal in the UJP tax authority, which has reportedly allowed reimburesment of taxes to companies that cited false turnover.

AKTIKO, a company registered for trade with textiles in Strumica in 2022, sought 10.5 million EUR in reimbursements from UJP in just three months, when it allegedly imported textiles worth 50 million EUR. A company that was just founded, immediately has 50 million EUR in turnover! Shortly after, the company was sold to Kosovan citizen Egzon Berisha. It paid merely a few thousand EUR in taxes and collected millions upon millions in reimbursement, VMRO-DPMNE said in a statement.

UJP director and SDSM party deputy leader Sanja Lukarevska insisted that no money were paid and that the police is investigating the allegations. But according to VMRO-DPMNE, this is false, and SDSM linked businessmen, with their partners in Kosovo, have been raiding the tax authority with obviously false tax rebate claims.

We ask what high level officials are behind this Strumica – Kosovo fraud?, VMRO-DPMNE said in a statement, clearly alluding to former SDSM leader and Strumica strongman Zoran Zaev.