The Basic Criminal Court Skopje today imposed a two-year suspended prison sentence on the businessman Zorancho Mitrovski who pleaded guilty in the "Empire" case. The suspended sentence is imposed if he does not commit another crime in the next five years.

Zorancho Mitrovski and "Ezemit Vino" DOOEL have to jointly pay damages of 92,25 million denars for the benefit of the RSM budget, while AD "Beton Shtip" is headed to a civil dispute for the previously announced damages.

At the previous hearing, the defendant voluntarily pleaded guilty to the charges of abuse of office and money laundering.

The judge Vaska Nikolovska Masevska, during the sentencing today, said that Mitrovski is guilty because in the period 2012-2013, by using his positions in the Board of Directors of AD Beton for personal gain, together with the other defendants, they caused damage of 256 million denars or 4 million euros of AD Beton.

The court for the crime of abuse of official position determines a prison sentence of one year and three months, while for the crime of money laundering, a prison sentence of one year and one month. According to the law for the two crimes, the Court sets him a single alternative measure, a suspended sentence, a prison sentence of two years, if he does not commit another crime in the next five years, said the judge Nikolovska Masevska.

The prosecutor Lile Stefanova, in his closing remarks at the previous hearing, he said that the admission of guilt itself is an extremely mitigating circumstance and that he thereby significantly contributed to the economy of the procedure, as well as that he has not been convicted so far.

The aggravating circumstances, as Stefanova pointed out, are the manner and motive of the crime.

Zorancho Mitrovski's defense attorney, in his closing remarks, said that in relation to the sentence, mitigating circumstances should be taken into account: the admission of guilt, that the defendant expressed his willingness to settle the compensation claim, that he is the father of two adult children, a businessman with companies that employ several families , and that the purpose of punishment is achieved by declaring guilty.

Zorancho Mitrovski, before the Court then said that he regrets what he did and that he feels the punishment very strongly, considering that he is withdrawing from all business activities.

The "Imperia" case began against three defendants Cvetan Pandeleski, Zorancho Mitrovski and Jovancho Taskovski, for the crimes of "abuse of official position", "money laundering" and "fraud", with which they caused damage worth 292 333 000 denars or 4 753 382 euros. According to the actions described in the Indictment, the first defendant and Zorancho Mitrovski, as well as another convicted person, in the period from May to August 2013, as co-executors, used their powers as responsible persons - members of the Board of Directors of a legal entity and representatives of the share capital . In the Imperija case, several persons were included in the pre-investigation procedure. For a part of the investigative procedure, among other things, there were verdicts based on proposed settlements, statute of limitations, as well as decisions not to initiate criminal proceedings.

Among the settlements was the settlement of the former head of UBK, Sasho Mijalkov, who pleaded guilty and settled with the Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime by which he was sentenced to 3 years in prison and a payment of 6,1 million euros in cash for the share in the Marriott Hotel and property worth about 30 million euros was confiscated.

An agreement was also made by the businessman Orce Kamce, who received a one-year prison sentence and an obligation to pay 5,2 million euros to the public revenue administration due to a calculated unpaid tax with the company "Orca Holding".