President Stevo Pendarovski was asked about the growing scandal in which it was revealed that the Interior Ministry was giving passports to top mobsters from the region. In response to PressingTV, Pendarovski’s office said that the President was merely informed about the situation, after the police detained several clerks in the department tasked with issuing passports. The issue was not raised during the recent meeting of the National Security Council Pendarovski convened.

The meeting of the Council was held to discuss the Covid-19 pandemic, the office briefly responded.

The nature of the answer shows that the President is not trying to get involved in the scandal, in which Prime Minister Zaev is standing by the actions of Interior Minister Oliver Spasovski. Both claim that the Ministry is investigating the case and not trying to cover it up by arresting just low level clerks. The opposition VMRO-DPMNE party claims that such a long standing practice of giving passports under fake identities to serious criminals and mafia hitmen could not be done without involvement of top Government officials.