Fokus reports on the curious property purchase made by Arben Taravari, leader of the Alliance of Albanians, which decided to join the ruling SDSM – DUI coalition and help prolong the life of Dimitar Kovacevski’s Government.

Taravari was an outspoken critic of the Government, especially of the DUI party, and had a strong cooperation agreement with the opposition VMRO-DPMNE party. But recently he did a U-turn and will bring his 8 votes in Parliament to support the coalition – which is haemorrhaging votes through dissent in DUI.

At one point in his career – he puts the timing at 2011, but this is being disputed – Taravari bought a house in Skopje’s Karpos district, popular with upscale residents and developers alike. He allegedly paid just 150.000 EUR for the house.

What’s interesting, as Fokus reports, is that one of the neighboring houses is owned by the Jahoski family – a powerful force in DUI who have received numerous oil related Government contracts through their political connections. VMRO-DPMNE alleges that Taravari was practically given a house as a present by DUI aligned businessmen to ensure that he switches political sides. Another house in the neighborhood is now owned by Fatmir Mexhiti – Taravari’s best man who is about to be named Healthcare Minister through the Alliance of Albanians, indicating that the “compensation package” for Taravari was probably even bigger.