The Defense Ministry assessed today that the State Auditor's report on this institution's work was misinterpreted in the public.

Secretary of State Nikola Petrovski explained today that the Auditor's report refers to the period 1992-2004, not just to year 2004 when current Prime Minister Vlado Buckovski was defense minister.

The report published in "Dnevnik" and "Utrinski Vesnik" states that the Defense Ministry signed direct agreements with favorite companies. "Utrinski Vesnik" carries the heading "Even Painting of Military Barracks was Military Secret". These two dailies reported that the Defense Ministry signed direct agreements last year for construction work valued at 914,672 euros.

Secretary of State Petrovski explained that until the end of year 2004 the Defense Ministry worked in accordance with the old Defense Law according to which all construction work in this sphere had security and defense character. As a result, direct agreements were allowed. The new law in this sphere came into effect at the beginning of year 2005.