Biljana Ivanovska, head of the state Anti-Corruption Commission, said that the practice used by the ruling DUI party to force its party members to divert part of their salaries to the party bank account is “shocking”. According to Ivanovska, this amounts to violation of party financing laws.

– We now have the power to take action in such cases. The parties have to submit their financial reports to us. We will monitor the campaign closely, and we will protect the public resources, said Ivanovska.

Over the past several years it was reported that the largest party representing ethnic Albanians in Macedonia had its officials it put in public sector positions sign a bank statement diverting a percentage of their salaries to the party account. This includes officials in managerial positions in the Macedonian Post Office, the Search and Rescue Directorate, the Macedonian Railways etc. Given DUI’s role as king-makers in Macedonian politics and their close ties with the diplomatic corps in Skopje the party never faced serious scrutiny over its corruption, let alone the war crimes its leaders committed as commanders of the terrorist UCK/NLA group during the 2001 war.