A Skopje court ordered a freeze on all property owned by oligarch Trifun Kostovski, whose Eurostandard Bank recently collapsed. Kostovski blamed the bank management and the ruling SDSM party for the collapse, saying that without his knowledge the managers gave bad loans to companies from Strumica linked with the Zaev family.

This blockade on my personal property deprives me of the ability to prove the truth about Eurostandard Bank. They want to freeze my property because that is what I’m using in my fight for the truth. I need funds to fight this battle, but I can’t sell the property I have made over the past 35 years. What’s next, to take my life?, Kostovski said.

Kostovski testified before the Parliament about the scandal. Members of Parliament pressed the prosecutors to investigate the allegations about the Zaev linked companies, but the court is apparently moving in the opposite direction. Zaev is now using the collapse of the bank to push for privatization of the Macedonian Post Office, which is hurt badly as it had an exclusive contract to manage payments through Eurostandard Bank.