PPO and European Public Prosecutor’s Office sign cooperation agreement
Skopje, 24 October 2022 (MIA) – North Macedonia’s Chief Public Prosecutor Ljubomir Joveski and European Chief Prosecutor Laura Codruța Kövesi signed a working agreement on cooperation in Luxembourg on Monday.
The document aims to facilitate mutual cooperation and the exchange of information between the two prosecutor's offices in order to ensure efficient investigation and prosecution of perpetrators of crimes, particularly when it comes to abuses of financial resources from European funds, the Public Prosecutor’s Office (PPO) said in a press release.
In line with the agreement, the Public Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of North Macedonia and the European Public Prosecutor's Office will exchange all strategic information within their jurisdiction. The European Public Prosecutor's Office also establishes its own contact point in the Public Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of North Macedonia.
“In this time of global financial and economic challenges that we are all facing, public prosecutions and investigative bodies in general also have the obligation to make every effort to prevent any abuse of budget funds. However, financial crime transcends national borders and only with mutual cooperation and joint action can we truly tackle abuses,” Joveski said at the signing event on Monday.
Under the document signed today, the two prosecutor's offices will hold meetings at a high level, as well as technical meetings at the operational and administrative level. The agreement also establishes the possibility that the two public prosecutor's offices may establish joint investigative teams in the future with special agreements, reads the press release.
Public Prosecutor Xhelal Bajrami and Acting Head of the Mission of the Republic of North Macedonia to the EU, Mile Prangoski, also attended the signing event in Luxembourg.
