Media reports following the major police raid into tax evasion and fraud in a number of Strumica based companies confirm that the focus of the investigation is in the collapse of the Eurostandard Bank.

Initial analysis of the documents that were seized from companies linked to businessman Risto Krmzov reveals that loans that were taken from Trifun Kostovski’s bank were sent to Turkey, where Krmzov had extensive businesses. Following the collapse of the bank, Kostovski blamed former Prime Minister Zoran Zaev of approaching the bank management and having them issue loans to bogus companies, that were then quickly dissolved and the loans were never paid back, leading to the collapse of the bank and tens of millions of euros in damages.

Another issue that was uncovered is that the Strumica based companies, whose main business was import of textiles and other goods from Turkey, were paying ridiculously low sums for the imports, as low as 1,500 EUR per truck. The investigation is also focused toward the Customs Agency and the Central Registry, who were allowing this fraud to go on.