Argument about a state land in Vevcani. Around 267 hectares under the Struga village of Vevcani have two tenants. The land is state owned and Ministry of Agriculture offers it to two owners.
First under public call, issued in situations where state land is already planted and the farmer has not taken out a lease, and then it is given to public announcement.
The company “Eco Project” applied, run by Maja Aluloska, Mitre Aluloski’s daughter from Vevcani. Hazelnuts were planted in 2009 and later drip irrigation was implemented.
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management, then headed by Ljupco Dimovski, current MP of the Socialist Party, approved Mitre Aluloski and his daughter to lease the land under the village of Vevcani. He sent a lease agreement, which the family Aluloski signed and sent it for signature to the Ministry of Agriculture. Ljupco Dimovski has never signed this agreement.
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Meanwhile the Mayor of Vevcani Cvetomir Ugrinoski, uncle of MP from VMRO-DPMNE in this municipality, Krsto Mukoski, is also interested in the land.
“That land is state-owned and there has been a dispute about it for more than 30 years. The problem arose with the collapse of the DPE Drimkol. When Drimkol collapsed, Mitre Aluloski somehow succeeded it. All mayors before me had promised to solve the problem with Drimkol. I promised it, too. I asked the government if they could not help me with money, at least to help me legally. The government agreed to come here and solve the problem”, says Ugrinoski.
He is planning to urbanize part of the land and to build a gas station there.
We could not confirm whether upon his request, the then Minister of Agriculture Dimovski did not sign this agreement with Mitre Aluloski.
Land with several owners
After the land had been rented to Mitre Aluloski, the Ministry of Agriculture also gave it to the company “Atrium”, owned by Krsto Mukoski’s brother Boban and his father. Some of the parcels have been taken by Krsto Mukoski’s uncle Gjorgji Ugrinoski through the company “Via Winery” from Vevcani. Owner of this company is Sanja Ugrinoska Spasenoska, employed in the office of Trajko Veljanoski, Speaker of the Macedonian Parliament and wife of former MP from VMRO-DPMNE in Ohrid Aleksandar Spasenoski.
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Part of the land has been taken by Vladimir Aluloski, owner of the company “Agro Lasko.”
Immediately after granting the land in a public call, proceedings started and as a result of that so far the land has not been entered as property in the real estate cadastre.
Center for Investigative Journalism SCOOP Macedonia requested data from the Agency for Financial Support of Agriculture and Rural Development whether any of the above mentioned companies have used subsidies. According to the response, none of the companies around Krsto Mukoski has taken any subsidies.
We asked MP Mukoski for a statement, but he did not respond to the invitation to talk to us about the land.
Charges against Ministry of Agriculture
The owner of “Eco Project”, one of Mitre Aluloski’s companies, has filed criminal charges against Gjorgje Dishlenkovikj and Daniel Murdzheski.
Gjorgje Dishlenkovikj is Head of the Department of Land Policy in the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management, charged against abuse of power.
Daniel Murdzheski works in the office of the Ministry of Agriculture in Vevcani, established at the time when the land was allocated. This office is the only branch of the Ministry of Agriculture set up to cover only one village that has no more than 500 hectares of land. As an example we will point out that the Municipality of Lozovo, which has 20 times more land than Vevcani, has no branch office. Same is the case with Cheshinovo-Obleshevo.
We could not confirm whether Ministry of Agriculture has opened this office only for the allocation of disputed land.
The criminal charges were filed on June 4, 2014, but so far the Public Prosecutor’s Office has not decided whether it accepts or rejects them.
For Leonid Trpenoski, Mitre Aluloski’s attorney and agent, this is symptomatic.
Леонид Трпеноски
“It is recommended the Public Prosecutor’s Office to rule on submissions within 3 months, but this time we have been waiting for 20 months. There are such cases, but they are very rare”, said Trpenoski.
He could not confirm whether Krsto Mukoski’s family is putting pressure on prosecutors.
Mitre Aluloski says that with this procedure has done a lot of harm to him.
“I have planted hazelnuts and walnuts in this land. The crop is from 2009, although Ministry of Agriculture with false information claim there is not any. The damage so far is about 160,000 Euros”, says Aluloski.
He adds that last year hazels started yielding and in a year these crops will be very fruitful.
(The story was is supported within the NED project “Raising Awareness about Corruption through Investigative Reporting”)
Reactiom by MEP Krsto Mukoski
To whom it may concern,
Regarding your story of 1st March 2016 entitled “State land divided to officials”, as a person mentioned in it I would like to submit a few facts and arguments concerning the specified topic to expose the truth about the case to the public.
In the area of Vevcani Municipality there are about 60 hectares of state agricultural land of IV, V and VI category which more than twenty years ago was used and cultivated by Vevcani enterprise “DPE Drimkol – Vevcani”, where over 1,200 people worked. Unfortunately, after the failed transition, the company collapsed, the property was sold out and in the whole process Mitre Aluloski was responsible for it as he illegally, through his several companies, emerged as the legal successor of the said company. The agricultural land experienced the same fate as Drimkol’s property, the person Mitre Aluloski, by illegal and criminal means through classic usurpation, without any agreement with the Ministry of Agriculture began to use the land. In part of the land of about 20 hectares there were vineyards, while in the remaining 40 hectares no crops were planted. This factual situation persisted until a few years ago when the Ministry of Agriculture announced a call for registration of agricultural land with perennial crops. And then the story begins. The person M.A., through multiple companies registered on behalf of his children, relatives and friends, presents himself to be user of land and falsely reports that there are perennial crops on the land. He has also applied to the Ministry of Agriculture for registration of all property of 60 hectares on his behalf. Initially, the Ministry of Agriculture prepared an Agreement for registration of agricultural land, but after the control made by the Inspectorate of Agriculture, it was determined that in more than 40 hectares there were no annual plantings so the Agreement was not signed and appropriate charges were brought for usurpation of agricultural land against M.A. After this whole procedure Ministry of Agriculture announced a new call for awarding state-owned land leased to individuals and legal entities in the area of the municipality of Vevcani and part of the municipality of Struga, previously used by “DPE Drimkol” and the announcement stated that priority was given to local companies and individuals. The whole land was divided into several blocks of 5 to 10 hectares of land and it was announced by the Ministry of Agriculture. During the whole process M.A. continued to use the land illegally by planting hazelnut, setting up drip irrigation and giving unlawful subleasing third parties to plant and cultivate the land with crops. Several businesses and individuals from Vevcani and nearby applied and after the conducted public procedure three companies from Vevcani and two companies near Vevcani were granted a portion of land that was bid. Legal entities (“VIA Winery,” “ATRIUM” and “AGRO Lasko”) that took part of the land in the area of Vevcani Municipality were called to the Ministry of Agriculture to sign contracts for use of agricultural land, but the land was never put in their possession because M.A. initiated litigation against the Ministry.
Today the situation is the same, the entities that were given the land to the public announcement pay guarantees quarterly, but the land has not been put in their possession yet and they cannot use it.
Unfortunately, the property of “DPE Drimkol” that besides the agricultural land also owned many important buildings in Vevcani and throughout the Republic Macedonia and even in R. Serbia (offices and warehouses), concrete base, tiles and coal mine in recent years were mostly undertaken and sold in a suspicious manner by the companies owned by M.A., as legal successors of the company mentioned.
It is sufficient to check M.A.’s criminal records (a pardon) to see what kind of person it is about.
