Saso Vasilevski, the former VMRO-DPMNE member of Parliament from Ohrid, had his daughter Olga Vasilevska (26) promoted to head of the legal department in the Macedonian Railways. Olga now collects a salary of nearly 1.000 EUR a month, close to twice the average wage.

Vasilevski was one of the nine members of Parliament elected on the VMRO ticket who were blackmailed and/or bribed by the Zaev regime to vote to rename Macedonia. He was one of the three, along with Krsto Mukoski and Ljuben Arnaudov, who were arrested and charged with “terrorism” over the April 2017 incident in the Parliament, only to negotiate a partial amnesty law for themselves in exchange for their votes. The three were released from detention in a coordinate move between the Government and the courts, literally with hours remaining to the first vote. All were promptly expelled from the opposition party.

Olga Vasilevska’s promotion reveals that, on top of the blackmail, the deal included publicly funded perks and bribes for the family. Mukoski’s company also benefited greatly after his vote, and he won several major public contracts after switching sides. Others from the group, like Nola Ismajlovska Starova and Zekir Ramcilovik, also had close family members hired or promoted to well paid positions in the public service.