Macedonia's Former Defense Minister Sentenced to Two Years in Prison

Vlado Buckovski, former Macedonian Prime Minister and former Defense Minister, photo by vesti.bg

The Skopje Appellate Court has sentenced former Macedonian Prime Minister and Defense Minister Vlado Buckovski to two years of imprisonment.

The Skopje-based Appellate Court  reduced Buckovski's sentence from three to two years of imprisonment, alleviating the penalty handed by the Skopje Basic Court I on July 1, 2013.

Buckovski was charged with embezzlement in an arms procurement deal.

The Skopje Appellate Court also reduced the sentence of Former army chief of staff Metodi Stamboliski from three to two years of imprisonment.

Former defense ministry logistics head Nelko Menkinovski, former defense ministry adviser Aco Gjurceski and Mitre Petkovski, the Manager of Macedonian company MZT FOP, were granted parole, according to news portal independent.mk.

The defendants in the case are to compensate damages worth over EUR 2 M incurred as a result of the purchase of an excessive amount of spare parts for T-55 tanks.

The defendants inflicted damage to the state budget by buying four times the amount of parts needed to equip T-55 army tanks.

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