Sitel TV reports that Finance Minister Nina Angelovska left just 8,000 EUR in her deposit account in the now bankrupt Eurostandard Bank. Angelovska had a deposit of over 250,000 EUR but withdrew it at a time when, given her position, she knew that the bank is going down, Sitel reports.

The deposits were withdrawn in two installments, in January and June this year. According to the law on banks, the Governor of the Central Bank is obliged to inform the Finance Minister every time a bank has liquidity issues. The Minister is also member of the Committee on financial stability, which normally meets twice a year. This year it already met four times, to discuss coronavirus crisis related issues, and the fourth meeting is after the Eurostandard Bank collapsed. The one before was held a month and a half before Minister Angelovska made the larger of her withdrawals, Sitel TV reported.

During the course of her work, Angelovska was also likely informed about a classified move by the Central Bank to limit the actions of Eurostandard Bank on the stock market. The Minister defended herself saying she needed to buy an apartment, and decided to invest the rest of the money in stocks. Thousands of small deposit holders are in panic about whether they will be able to take their money back, and tens of thousands are scrambling to migrate their accounts in the widely branched bank to other banks.