Representative of IESF Macedonia, Ana Karakolevska, and the municipality of Iasi have stated that the allegations of corruption schemes related to the organization of IESF 2023 are not true. IESF Macedonia has addressed the Director of Strategic Partnerships at StarLadder, Andriy Yatsenko, as he mentioned in his Telegram channel. In turn, the municipality of Iasi has published an official statement on its Facebook page.
To remind what initially raised questions, let's recall the chronology of events:
- In early 2022, a subsidiary of IESF was opened in North Macedonia.
- In the spring of 2022, the municipality of Iasi transferred 50% of the licensing fee amounting to $500,000 to the account of this office.
- In December of the same year, Totovski requested $30,000 from the main office for current expenses, as they ran out of money.
More details about the doubts regarding the transparency of financial reports surrounding the organization of the IESF 2023 World Championship can be found in the article.
Statement from IESF Macedonia
<...> False accusations have been made against the organization, claiming that the municipality of Iasi paid money to dubious individuals for the licensing rights of the IESF World Championship. The company belongs to and is managed by IESF and is a subsidiary office located in North Macedonia.
False information has also been spread about an alleged investigation in South Korea regarding the transfer of the licensing fee to the IESF subsidiary office. To authorize a foreign entity to make payments on behalf of the South Korean organization, a thorough auditing process involving relevant parties is required. This is a standard procedure and should not be mistakenly interpreted as an investigation. <...>Ana Karakolevska, Marketing Director of IESF
Statement from the municipality of Iasi
The municipality of Iasi, Romania, has also come forward to refute all possible accusations regarding corrupt schemes surrounding the IESF 2023 World Championship. The key points of their statement are:
- Iasi submitted an application to host the World Championships from IESF as early as 2021, and the necessary budgets for 2022 and 2023 were already approved at that time.
- A license is required to hold the tournament. However, unlike traditional sports, esports has its own rights holders, and there is no need to pay any licensing fees to any mythical "esports federations."
- This year they managed to pay only $1 million, as the licensing fee will increase to $5 million starting from next year.
- The money was transferred to Skopje completely legally because Boban Totovski assured them that everything was lawful.
- They conducted an investigation into the use of budgetary funds and found no violations.
- They denounced the Russian war against Ukraine as an absurd act of aggression and banned the participation of Russians and Belarusians. They also told the Russian representative of the Russian Esports Federation to go to hell.
- They accused Russians of spreading such defamatory articles in the press.
And that's not all! The municipality of Iasi plans to take legal action against the media channels and journalists who made unfounded accusations related to the organization of the World Championship of esports in Iasi. They will demand the refutation of false statements, removal of articles, and financial compensation for the damage caused.
New details
According to the material from the Romanian portal Reporteris, they have obtained information confirming the strange financial maneuvers of the Macedonian office of IESF. A significant amount of new information was provided by a former financial manager from the main office of IESF in South Korea, Jeff Bee. It was thanks to his assistance that the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism of South Korea (MCST), which funds IESF, initiated an investigation into how $750,000 from the so-called "licensing fee" ended up not in Korea but in North Macedonia, in a company effectively owned by the president of IESF, Vlad Marinescu. Furthermore, during this investigation, the MCST suspended all payments to the Federation in South Korea. In other words, IESF may not receive the annual installment of $300,000 from the Ministry, and employees risk not receiving their salaries.
Then I realized something was wrong. All $500,000 was used, a commission was paid to someone we don't know, an additional $100,000 was used for inviting influential individuals, extra staff, and unspecified VIP guests. As for the commission paid to Adrian Socaciu, we did not receive any contract or details of his activities in North Macedonia. However, I did everything possible to provide a resolution to this issue. I also told him [Totovski] that confirmation from Mr. President [Vlad Marinescu] should be on a document that we need to provide to MCST (Ministry) and FSA (Financial Supervision Authority).Jeff Bee, former financial manager from the main office of IESF in South Korea
The main office of IESF managed to obtain new financial statement documents, but there were issues there as well:
- Some staff members were not officially employed and had no contracts; they received cash payments. It is unknown how much cash was spent.
- Two iPhones were purchased, one for content shooting in Bali and another for personal use by an employee.
- Boban Totovski's company car, which was purportedly under a long-term lease, was actually purchased and owned by his private company ESDC.
- Totovski transferred $43,000 from the funds received from the municipality of Iasi to his personal bank account.
- $307,000 out of the $750,000 paid by the municipality of Iasi for the license was transferred to the bank account of the private company ESDC, which had no contract with the Macedonian branch of IESF.
- The entire transaction was intermediated through the company "Arhitectura & Design Socaciu SRL" owned by Adrian Socaciu. It was this company that later received approximately €48,000 as a commission.
Socaciu himself was appointed as a member of the "IESF Presidential Council" in April and already received €48,000 from the IESF subsidiary in North Macedonia in May. Subsequently, Jeff Bee was fired.
Conclusion
Serious questions arise regarding what actually happened to the money received by IESF Macedonia from the municipality of Iasi. This situation has caused confusion and interest within the community. The lack of reliable information on how these funds were utilized brings uncertainty and raises doubts about the effectiveness and transparency of the organization's financial operations.
The funding of the main office of IESF in South Korea is also in question. There is concern about whether the organization will be able to sustain its operations and development without financial support from the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism of South Korea. The lack of transparency and information about financial transactions can raise concerns among external stakeholders and contribute to the spread of various rumors and speculations.
To maintain trust and transparency, it is crucial for IESF to provide clear and concise information about the expenditure of funds and ensure proper financial transparency in the future. This will help restore trust and confidence in the organization's effectiveness and contribute to the further development of global esports.
The situation surrounding the IESF 2023 World Championship has been brought to the attention of the Ukrainian community through the Telegram channel of Andrey Yatsenko, the Director of Strategic Partnerships at StarLadder.
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