Even as Macedonia is ran by a caretaker administration whose only task is to organize the elections on April 12th, the Government is preparing to approve an increase in the cost of reconstruction of the Stip hospital during its next session.

The work is being conducted by the large Greek Intrakat construction company, which was previously involved in corruption allegations over the construction of the Demir Kapija – Smokvica highway. In the case of the Stip hospital, the Greek company won a contract for the reconstruction worth 30 million EUR. Now, the MKD.mk news site reports, the Government is preparing to approve additional seven million EUR for the job, even though we are in a pre-election period and the sole focus of the scandal plagued Government should be how to organize elections.

Work started in 2015 and the deadline for completion was prolonged four times. Meanwhile a local construction company – Beton Stip – got out of the deal in which it was presumed that they will be the main subcontractor, hired by Intrakat which won the contract. MKD.mk claims that Beton Stip agreed to do the entire deal and simply pay 5 percent of the revenue to Intrakat. Beton Stip is partially owned by businessman Jordan Orce Kamcev, who was the target of extortion attempts by Special Prosecutor Katica Janeva, and is in the focus of the major Racket corruption scandal. It is now reported that businessmen close to the Zaev regime tried to pressure Kamcev to hand over his share in the construction company, but he refused.

MKD.mk claims that after Kamcev stood firm Beton Stip, an official of the Zaev Government went to Athens and met with the Intrakat management, and afterwards the Greek company stopped forwarding the funds it received for the project to its subcontractor, canceled their contract and even activated the bank guarantee Beton Stip had to offer to get the deal. Under pressure, Beton Stip withdrew its workers from the hospital project.

MKD.mk reports that the pressure on Beton Stip was put to bear through Dimitris Koutras, one of the key managers of Intrakat, who was previously suspected of corruption in the Demir Kapija – Smokvica highway project. The Special Prosecutor’s Office, which was extorting money from Kamcev, tried to prosecute the highway case, and announced it is being investigated, but Special Prosecutor Katica Janeva quickly decided to drop the whole thing. Kutras then moved from the Aktor construction company, which was working on the Demir Kapija – Smokvica highway, to Intrakat.