The management of the state owned ELEM/ESM energy company is stealing from its Bitola coal mine, said VMRO-DPMNE President Hristijan Mickoski, who is former ELEM director. According to Mickoski, the management is allowing contractors to overbill for their work in the mine, which is contributing to the now chronic lack of coal and the major drop in domestic energy production.

If you look at their books, how much hours a truck or a digger has been employed, you will see that in Bitola, the day apparently has 36 hours, and there are 500 days in the year, Mickoski said.

The opposition leader added that this obvious crime is allowed to go on unchecked because “no prosecutor dares launch an investigation in Bitola, and no judge will convict them”. The mine is managed by appointees from the local Bitola branch of the ruling SDSM party.