Artan Grubi under house arrest

He has been arrested at the Blace border checkpoint, between northern Macedonia and Kosovo.

Grubi is suspected of abuse of official duty in the case known as “State Lottery”, the case of which even Radio Free Europe reported earlier. Progress Bajrami, also mentioned in the indictment as a suspect, is included.

Prosecutors suspect they have pocketed about 8m euros through procurement of electronic lottery terminals equipment (VLT). The prosecution has argued the request for home arrest, saying most of its data is already provided, for the fact that Grubi has voluntarily surrendered to state law enforcement agencies, and there are signals that “his personal security cannot be guaranteed in a ban centre”.

The Constitutional Criminal Court in Skopje has indicated that the trial of the preliminary procedure has accepted the proposal for home arrest. He will be under 24-hour supervision by Interior Ministry officials.

The Escape of Grub

Gruby was arrested after more than a year of his escape.

Authorities have said he is in good health and has been questioned by the Public Prosecutor's Office. The prosecution had demanded the detention of Grub and Bajrami, with the excuse that there is doubt based on the fact that both of them have been intent on illegal material profit.

On 17 December last year, the Criminal Prosecutor had sought 30-day detention for Grubin and Bajrami, and that day Macedonian authorities had issued international arrest warrants for both figures. Artan Grubi had said through a Facebook post that he is not escaping but that he was on a private visit to Kosovo and that he would return home.

The day after that statement, the police searched two locations but did not find him. Less than a month before resigning from the state prosecutor's position, Lupce Kocevski has said investigations into the State Lottary case have already ended and are expected only extradition. His flight has been an obstacle to starting judgment.

In contrast to Grub, who during the escape period had doubts that he was hiding in Kosovo or Albania, Bajrami's lawyer said earlier that his client did not leave but lived outside North Macedonia several months before his home was raided. Macedonian Prime Minister Hristian Mickoski had said in that world that Grubi “along with another person, businessman, has left Macedonia [North] with diplomatic license plates and has headed towards the neighbouring Kosovo country” and that Bajrami, according to him, has not been within Macedonian territory for a long time.

Include in American blacklist

Grubi was placed on the US State Department's blacklist on December 9th because, as it has been said, involvement in corruption, political interference and efforts to deceive the judiciary. The reason for involvement in this list was because they have taken bribes to influence judicial procedures related to the criminal conviction of former Security Administration Director and Counter-intelligence (DSK), Sasho Mijalkov, in the case “Targate” opened by the Special Public Prosecutor (PSP), which involved mass wiretapping.

Grubi was a member of the opposition's Democratic Union for Integration (BDI), once deputy and deputy prime minister in the former LSDM and DUI government.