US Ambassador to Macedonia Angela Aggeler called for a corruption investigation in former Prime Minister Zoran Zaev. The statement comes days after the US Treasury Department published the new black list of corrupt Balkan politicians – Zaev was not sanctioned by it, but he was prominently mentioned when discussing the corrupt ties developed by a pro-Russian businessman from Montenegro.
Aggeler was asked about the naming of Zaev, and whether she expects to see the institutions take steps and file charges in the scandal that was left uninvestigated.
Something that’s very interesting is that each time we have designated individuals for corruption in this country, every citizen, every friend that I have spoken with here says “of course”. Because the people know who the corrupt actors are in this country. And so, there is no legal requirement for any institution in this country to take action, but it is very much my hope that among the institutions who already know that there is corruption in these cases, that they will indeed follow up. The people in this country should demand it and they deserve it, to have this corruption followed up and investigated, Aggeler said.
The list continued to demand investigations about the previous Government, blacklisting a Russian businessman who is accused of being involved in a real-estate deal that was supposed to benefit Nikola Gruevski. But the big surprise was the decision to mention Zaev – he is named because of Montenegrin businessman Miodrag Davidovic – Daka, who “was also implicated in the scandal that led to the arrest of North Macedonia government Secretary General Dragi Rashkovski, a top lieutenant of former North Macedonia Prime Minister Zoran Zaev. Rashkovski allegedly received a bribe from Davidovic in order to have a meeting with Prime Minister Zaev to advance Davidovic’s business interests”, the report noted.
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