VMRO-DPMNE spokesman Dimitar Arsovski claims that the PowerAd company, which won 220.000 EUR in an “innovation grant”, had violated copyright from an American company. The PowerAd company was co-owned by Elenica, one of the companies ran by the Zaev family, until a few months before it won the sizable grant apparently using a stolen project, which according to VMRO is yet another scandal involving the Innovation Fund.

As you can see in the pictures, the application is copied or rather stolen from an American company which has promoted the innovation in 2015. And this “innovation” was worth 220.000 EUR in grants. The only innovation the SDSM party has perfected is in stealing public money. This is not the first time that people associated with Zaev receive hundreds of thousands of euros for stolen innovations, said Arsovski.

In a very similar earlier scandal, a company ran by the brother of a journalist very close to the ruling SDSM party received a grant worth 245.000 EUR for “inventing” a device which was apparently stolen from an Indian company.

Indian company proves they are the rightful owners of the patent presented by outspoken SDSM party supporter who claimed a grant worth 245.000 EUR

Other suspicious recipients have included a Zaev adviser along with his newly appointed Finance Minister, companies linked to the Deputy Prime Minister Koco Angusev, SDSM party member of Parliament Hari Lokvenec, and other journalists close to SDSM such as Goran Mihalovski and Branko Geroski.

The PowerAd application helps drivers place ads on their vehicles, but as VMRO-DPMNE explains, the idea has already been long developed and in use by a US company under the brand Wrapify, and its appearance in Macedonia seems timed to collect a grant from the Innovation Fund, which under the management of SDSM party official Jovan Despotovski has developed a long track record of awarding money to people associated with the SDSM party.

The PowerAd company was set up in February 2018, and the application for grants was opened in April. Zaev’s family disassociated itself from the company in August, when the scandal with politically linked innovation grants was the most prominent in the public eye. This is clear abuse and people must be held responsible, Arsovski said.