The reason for the arrest of former Central Registry director Andrea Popovski is that he allegedly gave the permission to an employee to stay off from work and instead be active in a political party.

Popovski was appointed under the VMRO-DPMNE led Government and many VMRO officials are currently facing arrests and charges by SDSM party led prosecutors. Popovski was detained earlier this week, while three other employees are also charged. The woman in question allegedly collected the salary for two and a half years, starting in end 2014.

The practice of using the public administration for political purposes is widespread in Macedonia, across all political parties. There is even a term, “ramkovni”, for ethnic Albanian public sector employees hired under the 2001 Ohrid framework (ramkoven) peace treaty, who don’t show up for work.