The company operating the Ilovica copper mine project was sold in 2019 to a shell company registered in the Cayman Islands, said VMRO-DPMNE Vice President Aleksandar Nikoloski, who warns that this is an attempt to take over the mine and revive the project by Bulgarian business interests close to the Zaev family. The huge mine project near Strumica was originally initiated by the Canadian Euromax Resources company, but Zaev’s SDSM party campaigned against it on environmental grounds and banned it once Zaev was in power, but is now apparently trying to restart it on its own terms.

In 2019 the Anti-trust Committee approved the sale of Euromax Resources to a suspicious company registered in the Cayman Islands named Galena Resource Equities Limited. This company is registered at an address that houses no less than 22,000 companies. This place, the Ugland House, was named by former US President Barack Obama as the biggest money laundering scheme in the world, this building that houses that many companies, Nikoloski said.

He added that the company bought a controlling share of 53 percent of Euromax Resources, and went on to appoint Ivan Vutov as the company’s manager. “He is the son of Colo Vutov, who is one of the richest men in Bulgaria and close to the current Government, which implies that Vutov is the man behind Galena”, Nikoloski said.

He went on to note that it’s curious how, as soon as the sale was approved, the Administrative Court of Macedonia ordered that the project, which was banned, is re-examined, and opens the door to its revival. Bulgaria is currently blocking Macedonia from opening EU accession talks and demands concessions in both historic and national identity issues as well as “easier access of Bulgarian businesses to the Macedonian market”.

Did Zoran Zaev promise Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borisov control over this major mine? Zaev had the mine banned, but now that a suspicious investor registered in the Cayman Islands came to the scene, the court is reversing its decision, Nikoloski said.