The financial police revealed it is filing criminal charges against Lidija Dimova, the SDSM party activist who was appointed head of the agency tasked with managing EU educational funds and programs in Macedonia.

Dimova is charged along with two associates, one of them also a leftist SDSM party activist, and the head of an NGO who received 270,000 EUR in grants. The NGO filed its application through a hair salon which its director owns, which prompted public outcry. Dimova is suspected of additional abuses totaling over 400,000 EUR.

She is refusing to resign even after the leadership of her own party publicly called on her to do so. The managing board of the agency is citing various excuses such as the epidemic to avoid removing Dimova from her office.