We have done a lot in the 4.5 years that we exist. We have completed a lot of work, and we don’t need anyone from 8,000 kilometers away to come and tell us what is going on. We already know – the disrespect of the independent  institutions’ work brought us here, since we have pointed out to corruption so many times, the head of the State Corruption Prevention Commission, Biljana Ivanovska claimed at Friday’s press conference.

Ivanovska added that almost every EU report on our country’s progress appeals for better functioning of the institutions, more respect for the independent institutions’ recommendations, and bigger support for the institutions commissioned to apply the national strategies.

“Impunity is of the greatest corruption risk factors, which significantly reduced the people’s trust”, Ivanovska stressed.

Stating an example related to the blacklisted Struga Mayor Ramiz Marko, Ivanovska told the reporters that in November 2019, the Anticorruption Commission petitioned the Struga District Court about the Merko’s acquisition of a luxurious Audi 6 vehicle for his office, but we still don’t have any kind of response, in spite of the law obligations the Court has.

“We followed with an urgent demand for an answer, that was already in February 2021, and they responded that  they have no such petition in their archives. We have an official receipt that the petition was received. Now no one will be held responsible, because three years have passed since the acquisition”, Ivanovska said.

The head of the Commission also emphasized that the Judicial Council is competent to take measures against the judges, but asked who will take measures against the Judicial Council?

“The question now is whether this is only another drop in the swamp in which the Judicial Council is drоwning? We have no competence over the Judicial Council. It is a regulatory body, regulating the judges. We are  seriously trying to improve our cooperation with the Public Prosecutor Office, asking for all our cases to be put on a fast track, since they are all corroborated by evidence. The Prosecution should trust a bit more the work of the independent institutions”, Ivanovska concluded.