Republika has learnt that, on top of the scandals with the hugely outsized and illegally paid salaries and bonuses in the Special Prosecutor’s Office, this institution was also awarding sizable no-bid public procurement contracts.

One of these contracts, Republika has learnt, includes rent-a-car services. We called on the state prosecutors to investigate these allegations before publishing them in detail.

The SPO is imploding after the dramatic rise and fall of its Special Prosecutor Katica Janeva over the past several years. Created on the premise that it will “restore law and order and justice” in Macedonia and fight high level crime, the institution was used to bring down the conservative VMRO-DPMNE led Government with targeted prosecutions and clear the way for the now outgoing SDSM Government.

Over the past year it was revealed that Janeva and her team engaged in extortion, grabbing millions of euros from businessmen they were pressuring with criminal charges. And more recently, a public funding transparency tool confirmed the allegations VMRO-DPMNE has been raising for years – that the SPO is awarding huge bonuses to its staff and to SDSM party activists and public opinion makers.