A flood allegedly caused by a burst heating pipe destroyed evidence in the Special Prosecutor’s Office in Skopje on Monday.

The politically driven unit of state prosecutors told Alsat TV that the flood destroyed evidence in three cases, including the one raised against former security chief Saso Mijalkov and businessman Orce Kamcev.

It is true that due to the worn state of the heating instalations in the facility which the SPO uses, one of the pipes burst and this affected part of the documents related to the cases Empire, Spy and 300. We usually scan the documents, but if it is determined that some of the documents were not scanned electronically, we will ask that they are renewed, the SPO told Alsat.

In 2016, SPO explained the high price tag of its operations with the need to refurbish the offices it took and then it claimed that they meet all necessary standards. There was no mention of worn or decayed installations then.

The flood prompted many commentators to question the work of the SPO. It comes after VMRO-DPMNE leader accused special prosecutor Katica Janeva of attempting to blackmail him, demanding that VMRO supports making its mandate permanent, with Janeva in charge, and in exchange the SPO would lift its order that courts freeze VMRO property. It is widely speculated that the SPO is similarly blackmailing other politicians and business people in Macedonia, offering that cases are withdrawn or evidence “disappears” if they cooperate with the SDSM led Government.