The “Total” Case Against Latas Dismissed, Prosecutor Withdraws After Charges Expire

The Skopje Criminal Court announced that on May 27 of this year it issued a decision to dismiss the indictment in the case known as “Total,” inherited from the former Special Public Prosecution. The public prosecutor, at the conclusion of the review, fully withdrew from the charges.

In this judicial process, which has been ongoing since October 2017, journalist Dragan Pavlović-Latas and three legal entities based in Skopje were accused of the crime of “Tax Evasion.”

Due to shifts in jurisdiction between prosecution offices throughout the course of the case, the process was restarted several times. At the most recent hearing, the prosecution representative stated that he would no longer pursue criminal charges against the defendants. He relied on expert findings, making amendments to the indictment and assessing that for two of the legal entities, the legal elements of “Tax Evasion” were not met.

As for the third legal entity and the accused Latas, the prosecutor found that the absolute statute of limitations for criminal prosecution had expired. Consequently, the court applied the relevant legal norms and issued this decision. The judgment, dated June 25, 2026, is final, and its anonymized summary will soon be published on the court’s official website.

The “Total” case was based on suspicions of tax evasion by Latas, in his capacity as owner and manager of the companies “Total” DOOEL Skopje, “Mediamax,” and “Total Media Centar” DOOEL Skopje, which provide marketing and consulting services.