VMRO-DPMNE called on the Government to immediately stop the procurement process for purchase of transport helicopters from Italy.

The price of the deal – 250 million EUR for eight Leonardo transport helicopters, and the timing – just ahead of the elections, caused outrage in the public.

It is out of the bounds of normal behavior that the SDS and DUI parties are conducting a procurement worth 250 million EUR just weeks before the election campaign begins, while we have a technical Government. Instead of combat crafts, they are purchasing transport helicopters, that do not improve the combat readiness of the military. They can’t explain how they selected the Leonardo company, and not an American company or a Franco-German consortium. This deal needs to be stopped and it should be up to the next Government to settle this issue, VMRO-DPMNE said in a statement.

A major corruption scandal erupted in 2019 when a secretly made recording showed that Zoran Zaev’s right hand man Dragi Raskovski was rigging a procurement contract with Leonardo for the sale of air traffic control systems.