National Forests officials arrested in North Macedonia corruption probe

Kire Mihailov, Deputy Director of the state enterprise ‘National Forests’, has announced a series of legal actions involving arrests and seizures related to suspected abuse of office and illegal logging.

Authorities have detained the director of the ‘Bor’ subsidiary in Prilep and an employee from the ‘Babuna’ subsidiary in Veles following investigations by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Additionally, a criminal complaint was filed against a former director in Sveti Nikole and a legal entity from Buzalkovo, involving estimated damages exceeding 50,000 euros.

In recent enforcement actions, several trucks linked to individuals described as ‘tender manipulators and wood thieves’ were seized. Furthermore, approximately 400 cubic meters of firewood, valued at roughly 30,000 euros, were confiscated from a legal entity in Skopje.