A company linked to former DBK security agency director Saso Mijalkov donated 5.300 coronavirus tests. Jordan Mijalkov, Saso Mijalkov’s son, announced that his company is donating tests produced by the Abbott company worth 50.000 EUR to the Healthcare Ministry.

The humanitarian gesture never the less drew sarcastic comments in the public. Mijalkov was demonized by the leftist SDSM party while he was a serious part of the VMRO-DPMNE party over its decade in office. After SDSM grabbed power in 2017, Mijalkov faced numerous charges from the politically driven Special Prosecutor’s Office, including a never fully explained allegation that he wiretapped himself and other VMRO-DPMNE officials and then gave the tapes to SDSM to be used against him. He was even detained briefly, as part of the so-called Empire trial, which eventually turned on its head and led to the arrest of Special Prosecutor Katica Janeva, after it was revealed that she used the trial to extort millions of euros from businessman Jordan Orce Kamcev.

But since then, Mijalkov began to get steadily closer to SDSM, with allegations of joint business deals with top SDSM officials. This culminated in his alleged pressure on a number of VMRO-DPMNE members of Parliament to split from the party and join with SDSM in the vote to rename and redefine Macedonia. He and “his” members of Parliament were expelled from VMRO shortly after. Still, nobody expected that 2020 will see a Mijalkov owned company vie for the title of a socially responsible business.