The Constitutional Court issued a press release confirming that it has initiated a procedure to look into a scandalous decree issued by the SDSM led Government. The decree, issued using the emergency powers given to the Government, pays back wages and bonuses to the employees of the disgraced Special Prosecutor’s Office and distributes them through the OJO office of state prosecutors.

Despite the growing economic crisis and projections that the budget deficit will range between 700 million and 1,3 billion EUR (out a little under 4 billion in total projected spending), and proposals for cost cutting across the budget, the SPO got their cut. The institution which carried out openly politically motivated trials of conservative politicians was instrumental in bringing the SDSM party to power.

It was dissolved last year after its chief prosecutor Katica Janeva was suspected with extorting tens of millions of euros from businessmen she was prosecuting. Her assistants are widely suspected of being part of the extortion racket, but none of them has been charged yet. Additional charges are proposed by the Anti-Corruption Commission, after it was revealed that Janeva and her prosecutors took tens of thousands of euros in illegal bonuses.