Tag: passports
Macedonia 16.10.21 | 14:40

Macedonian factory for passports for international mobsters and drug cartels

This year, the Ministry of Interior was shaken by perhaps one of the biggest scandals in recent history when MoI officers unlawfully issued as many as 215 passports, of which in 2014 to foreign nationals and one Macedonian citizen who acquired a fake identity, thus abusing their official position. Among...

Macedonia 25.06.21 | 10:02

Spasovski confirms that issuance of passports with country’s new name will start on Thursday

Passports with the country’s new constitutional name – Republic of North Macedonia will start being issued on Thursday, confirmed the Minister of Interior Oliver Spasovski at Thursday’s Parliament Q&A session. Responding to MP Ane Laskoska about the lack of blank passport, Spasovski...

Macedonia 22.06.21 | 09:09

Interior Ministry stops issuing documents until the end of the week

The Interior Ministry announced it will stop issuing passports, identity cards and driver licenses from Wednesday until Sunday. The Ministry claimed that the reason is an update of the system. This comes after weeks of complaints from citizens that they can’t get an appointment for even the most...

Macedonia 11.06.21 | 13:39

Only conditional sentences for issuing passports to drug lords

The Skopje Criminal Court found Faruk Buki, Vesna Kolevska and Branislava Spisic guilty in the “Double” case. Defendant Buki was sentenced by the court to three years in prison, while defendants Kolevski and Spisic were given suspended sentences of one year in prison in case they repeat the...

Macedonia 08.06.21 | 10:59

Four international drug lords obtained Macedonian passports on the same day last year

Last year, on October 1, as many as four heads of international drug cartels came to Skopje, were photographed in the premises of the Ministry of Interior, left fingerprints, received new identities and Macedonian passports, MKD analyses. According to the indictment, on October 1, 2020 in Skopje, Macedonian...

Macedonia 28.05.21 | 14:04

Intelligence Agency head: Macedonian passports were issued to extremists from Syria and assassins in Ukraine and Greece

The head of the Intelligence Agency, Erold Musliu, says that in the “Mafia” affair, which was first revealed by the opposition VMRO-DPMNE, Macedonian passports with fake identities were issued to extremists with experience from the conflicts in Syria, as well as people involved in assassinations...

Macedonia 17.05.21 | 11:02

VMRO calls on prosecutors to expand their investigation into the “mafia passports” scandal

VMRO-DPMNE called on state prosecutors to expand the investigation into the “mafia passports” scandal, including on the fact that Turkish mobster Sedat Peker was given police escort while he was in Macedonia in late 2020 and early 2021. The Interior Ministry was found to have issued 214 fake...

Macedonia 05.05.21 | 13:38

Mafia passports scandal: Half of the defendants pleaded guilty

Four Interior Ministry clerks and one accomplice pleaded guilty in the mafia passports case – the scandal in which it was revealed that the Ministry was massively issuing passports to regional and international criminals and drug lords, with over 200 such passports given in the past several years. The...

Macedonia 15.04.21 | 18:14

Albanian President Meta wants an investigation into the mafia passports scandal in Macedonia

Albanian President Ilir Meta called on the authorities to investigate the mafia passports scandal in Macedonia, after it was revealed that regional mafia bosses were given Macedonian passports. Some of the passports were issued using stolen identities from ethnic Macedonians who live in Albania and also...

Macedonia 11.04.21 | 17:00

Lawyer confirms that Serbian mafia boss has a Macedonian passport

Serbian lawyer Zora Dobricanin, who represents mafia boss Jovan Vukotic, has confirmed that he has a Macedonian passport. Vukotic, one of the leaders of the notorious Shkaljarski clan, obtained the passport in 2018. In an interview last year, Dobricanin said that Vukotic had an authentic Macedonian passport,...

Macedonia 10.04.21 | 18:03

Interior Minister Spasovski is close to one of the suspects in the mafia passports scandal

One of the suspects detained in the major mafia passports scandal is close to Interior Minister Oliver Spasovski, it was revealed today. The Ministry is under an investigation after it was revealed that clerks issued over 200 passports to mafia figures and hitmen from the region and beyond – including...

Macedonia 09.04.21 | 12:44

US Embassy refrains from comment on the passports scandal

The US Embassy in Macedonia spoke out about the major scandal in the Interior Ministry, where it was revealed that a number of high profile mafia bosses and hitmen from the region were given Macedonian travel documents. In his defense, Interior Minister Oliver Spasovski said that he was in fact investigating...

Macedonia 08.04.21 | 12:16

LIVE: New revelations of mobsters who were issued passports by the Macedonian Interior Ministry

VMRO-DPMNE Vice President Vladimir Misajlovski is holding a press conference to reveal additional names of European mobsters who were issued passports by the Zaev regime. During the week, VMRO revealed that Albanian, Serbian and Turkish mobsters were given passports over the past four years. Another...

Macedonia 08.04.21 | 11:33

VMRO-DPMNE: Why didn’t Spasovski inform other police services that mobsters are using passports issued by his Ministry?

The VMRO-DPMNE party issued a press release to respond to Interior Minister Oliver Spasovski’s attempts to spin the growing “passports for criminals” scandal. The Interior Ministry was revealed by VMRO-DPMNE to have been issuing passports to a number of regional mafia bosses, including...

Macedonia 08.04.21 | 09:32

Six detained over the “passports for criminals” scandal

Six suspects, including Interior Ministry clerks, were ordered into detention for a month after they were arrested for issuing passports to high level regional criminals. Another two regional mobsters were given Macedonian passports by the Zaev regime The scandal was revealed by the opposition VMRO-DPMNE...

Macedonia 09.02.21 | 20:21

Passport law amendments in Parliament, new name incorporated as of July 1

The issuance of passports with the new constitutional name will begin on July 1, read the amendments to the Law on Passports, which first reading passed in the Parliament’s Committee on Political System and Community Relations on Tuesday. The draft law was passed without discussion at the session...

Macedonia 20.12.20 | 14:52

Nikoloski: The fact that no Macedonians sought Bulgarian passports before it joined the EU proves this is an economic, not ethnic issue

Responding to comments from Bulgarian Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva about the tens of thousands of Macedonians who sought Bulgarian citizenship, VMRO-DPMNE Vice President Aleksandar Nikoloski said that this only happened after Bulgaria gained EU membership. This made the Bulgarian passport highly...

Macedonia 15.05.20 | 11:14

Validity of passports and driver’s licenses extended until July 31

The Ministry of Interior informs the citizens that the validity period of passports and driver’s licenses that has expired during the state of emergency has been extended, and they are valid until July 31, 2020. This means that these citizens do not need to get new passports and driver’s...

Macedonia 07.03.20 | 16:20

Culev: New passports to be provided in 7-10 days

The passports are expected to arrive German in a week, according to the Ministry of Interior’s communication with the company Veridos that produces them. Minister Nake Culev informed on Saturday. According to the agreement, the passports should arrive on March 24. We are in constant communication...

Macedonia 20.02.20 | 20:18

Culev calls on Spasovski to convene the Government in order to resolve the passport crisis

Interim Interior Minister Nake Culev called his predecessor, now interim Prime Minister Oliver Spasovski, to schedule a meeting of the Government where the unprecedented issue of passports will be discussed. Macedonia is currently left almost without blank passports and other personal documents, which...

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