State prosecutors are preparing abuse of office charges against Jovan Despotovski, former top SDSM party official and head of the notoriously corrupt Innovation Fund. Despotovski appeared before a judge today, and the prosecution demanded that he is ordered to leave his passport to prevent flight.

The prosecution service and the financial police are still undertaking steps. In order to prevent harm to the procedure, the two institutions will inform the public when the conditions allow it, the prosecution office informed today.

Despotovski led the Innovation Fund at the start of Zaev’s term, and then took over the TIRZ bureau for management of the industrial zones. While in the Innovation Fund, he approved payment of grants for bogus innovations to businessmen, politicians and even journalists close to the ruling SDSM party. The bureau quickly became byword for corruption, as mundane “innovations” were rewarded with hundreds of thousands of euros in grants.

Despotovski is seen as an official close to the Radmila Sekerinska wing of the party, and held top positions in the EU affairs office while Sekerinska ran it. He ran for SDSM leader twice, in 2021, after Zaev’s withdrawal from the party, and again in 2024.