On 17 October 2024, the European Development Academy’s Slovenian expert team met in Skopje with Ljupco Kocevski, State Public Prosecutor of North Macedonia, and Gavril Bubevski, Head of the Skopje Prosecutor’s Office, to discuss how current capacity-building work on financial investigations can best respond to prosecutorial needs in complex cases. The exchange focused on practical priorities in investigative methodology, expert support, reporting quality and inter-institutional coordination.
A central part of the discussion concerned the role of financial investigations in complex corruption- and fraud-related cases with a strong financial dimension. Particular attention was given to the required case expert support and distinction between the investigation of financial crime, a financial investigation linked to a specific offence, and broader financial-investigation work relevant to extended confiscation. The discussion also addressed how financially relevant findings should be structured for prosecutorial use, including early asset identification, net-worth logic and clearer reporting.
The meeting helped connect Slovenian and Macedonian professional practice more directly by linking training priorities to real institutional needs. It reinforced the importance of stronger reporting discipline, clearer opening logic and closer coordination between investigators and prosecutors in cases where asset-focused work is essential.
The exchange formed part of EDA’s wider capacity building for financial investigation programme for Macedonian authorities, a structured course pathway running from May 2024. Within that broader framework, the October 2024 phase focused on opening criteria, asset scope, net-worth analysis and prosecutor-usable reporting, helping ensure that the programme remained closely aligned with current prosecutorial priorities and operational realities.
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