The pre-investigative procedures will carry on for everyone, despite President Ivanov's withdrawal of his abolition decision for 22 persons. The spokesperson of the Special Public Prosecutor's Office (SPO), Lence Ristoska, pointed out that the prosecutors are actively working on all pre-investigative and investigative proceedings, which mostly involve the persons who are on the list of 56 pardoned individuals. Furthermore, she pointed out that they are still waiting on an answer from President Ivanov's office on how information was obtained on the persons involved in the pre-investigative proceedings.
"The investigations and pre-investigative proceedings are ongoing. We expect and believe that the President will fulfill his constitutional obligations and that he will allow for justice to be realized. Justice should not be selective and the truth should not be overshadowed. We are alerting of founded suspicions which stem from the revelations uncovered by the pre-investigative procedures. Every person is presumed innocent until proven guilty", Ristoska pointed out.
She added that that the pre-investigative procedures are in relation to financial crimes, but did not uncover further details on the cases. Ristoska also said that persons that will be found guilty of crimes will have their property seized.
"All investigative and pre-investigative procedures are ongoing. Taken into consideration that the pre-investigative procedures are supposed to be covert, we hope that the public will be understanding of the fact that we cannot share information on the cases. Our activities are focused on financial investigative procedures. Our goal is to prove that criminal activity does not pay off. Those that profited from criminal activity will have their property gains seized", Ristoska said.
According to the SPO spokesperson, President Ivanov's office was contacted twice so it can be cleared up how they obtained information on the persons involved in SPO's pre-investigative procedures. An answer still has not been provided.
Spokesperson Confirms SPO Prosecutors Receive High Salaries
When asked about the enormous salaries, Ristoska just confirmed the amount of about EUR 2,000-3,000. The amounts of their salaries was also revealed by VMRO-DPMNE president Nikola Gruevski in an interview for Telegraph.mk.
Ristoska defended the salary amounts by saying that they are within the legal frameworks of regulations and financial plan aproved by Parliament.
"Speculations on the prosecutors' salaries are true. All of the salaries and additions are calculated within the framework of legal regulations. We want to inform the public that all SPO employees and prosecutors receive salary additions according to legal regulations. All financial obligations are within the framework of the Parliament-approved financial plan. This data will be available in the second six-month report, which will show how exactly the money was spent, including the finances for SPO's building. We hope that by September we will work in the new building and we will carry on with our activities from there", Ristoska said.
We did Not Report Krpac Was Receiving Threats
The spokesperson answered a lot of questions, including on Kosta Krpac, for who the SPO said Thursday that he committed suicide. Ristoska said that Krpac complained to the SPO that his safety was endangered, but that they did not report this to the police.
"Krpac free-willingly wanted to be a witness in the pre-investigative procedure, which is still unpublished. It is also a pre-investigative procedure of the Public Prosecutor's Office. We have a statement from Krpac in which he claims that there were threats made against him. This was passed on to the Public Prosecutor's Office. The data is of a sensitive nature. When that procedure finishes, the public will be informed of the case's circumstances. Krpac contacting us was not reported to the Interior Ministry, because we were obliged to keep his identity secret."Ristoska informed.
It will Take a Year and a Half to Go Over Wiretapped Materials
She also refrained from commenting on the engagement of Miroslav Grcev as an expert witness in the case that had to with the teardown of the complex Cosmos. She said that they contacted the Faculty of Architecture, from where they requested and expert, and Grcev was the one suggested to them.
"We had a renowned institution that could provide an expert opinion, and that was the Faculty of Architecture. It was up to the Faculty of Architecture to choose an expert who could provide an opinion. There are no legal grounds, according to which the chosen person can be exempted. If the defense is suspicious of his expert opinion then it can hire technical consultants to give their opinion in comparison to his to see if there are differences and if there are, it can put them up for assessment", Ristoska said.
In regards to the wiretapped materials, she said that over 500,000 audio recordings and scripts have been submitted to them. In order to go over them, if all SPO prosecutors get involved, it would take over a year and a half.