Muhamed Zekiri sentenced to 1 year and 7 months in prison

The Court of Appeals has sentenced former government secretary Muhamed Zekiri to 1 year and 7 months in prison in a criminal case in which he was accused of abuse of office. The case concerns contracts signed for consultancy services aimed at analyzing the situation and examining the possibility of privatizing the Postal Service and Railways of the Republic of North Macedonia, without conducting a public procurement procedure, “Koha” reports.

The decision was issued following a retrial. Zekiri may challenge it before the Supreme Court within eight days. According to the prosecution, the contracts caused damage of more than €1.1 million to the state budget.

The Court of Appeals also announced that the assets of the contracting company Interholding had been ordered confiscated, while no such measure was imposed on Zekiri.

The case was sent back for retrial after the Skopje Court of Appeals overturned the judgment of the Skopje Basic Criminal Court in September against former secretary-general of the government Muhamed Zeqiri, who had been accused of abuse of official position and authority.

In December last year, the Skopje Basic Criminal Court found Zeqiri guilty and sentenced him to 2 years and 6 months in prison for abuse of official position and authority. The indictment was filed under Article 353, paragraph 4, of the Criminal Code, which, following the latest amendments, provides for a prison sentence of between 1 and 5 years.

The prosecution accused him of signing two contracts for consultancy services without conducting the relevant public procurement procedures. In addition to the prison sentence, the court had also ordered compensation for the damage caused to the State Budget, amounting to 71,338,336 denars.