Additional Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Economy Cvetan Tripunovski reiterated Tuesday the accusations made yesterday that the Food and Veterinary Agency (AHV) had not been inspecting food safety and quality for nearly six months last year.

According to Tripunovski, AHV Director Zoran Atanasov and former Prime Minister Zoran Zaev continue to lie, instead of apologizing to the public.

Zoran Zaev and Zoran Atanasov continue to lie to the Macedonian public. Instead of apologizing to the public, they are blatantly lying about their food inspections. The inspection was not conducted. These are documents confirming that the AHV has not been conducting food inspections for nearly half a year. Nobody knows what the citizens ate then. It is the responsibility of the AHV to ensure that monitoring programs are delivered on a timely basis and implemented continuously. Responsibility is legal but also moral because it is about the health of the people. Therefore, there should be no excuse, said Tripunovski.

Tripunovski said he obtained the documents he was presenting at the press conferences, which according to him are proof that AHV did not conduct inspections, from people he did not know, but who were concerned about their safety.

AHV dismissed Tripunovski’s accusations, qualifying them as dilatory and unfounded.