The Macedonian Government announced that it is ending a dubious contract with the e.GO company that promised to build a factory for electric cars near Tetovo.

The ostensibly German company was under clear influence of the ruling DUI party, and a powerful local businessman – Lazim Destani, head of the Ekolog company. Using their enormous influence over the Government, DUI ensured that e.GO would get 130 million EUR in subsidies – a sum that caused outrage in Macedonia, with many warning that this will end up like yet another DUI corruption scandal.

German professor Gunter Schuh was supposed to lend some credibility to the idea, as e.GO pitched the proposal to a number of Balkan countries. In mid 2022 the DUI-SDSM Government announced, with major pomp, that the factory will be built in the Zelino industrial zone near Tetovo and that the investment will bring 900 jobs to the region. In the meantime, professor Schuh, who was promoting the concept of small electric vehicles, announced that he was removed from the company by Destani.

TIRZ, the public company set up to manage the industrial zones where foreign businesses can get preferential treatment and tax breaks if they bring major manufacturing lines to Macedonia, announced that it is ending the awarding of financial assistance to e.GO because of the insolvency of its parent company in Germany. TIRZ insisted that it did not give any money to e.GO yet, even though they requested it.