The Anti-Corruption Commission (DKSK) announced it is initiating a large number of new investigations against current office holders, chief among them Prime Minister Zoran Zaev.
Zaev will be investigated based on reports filed by the opposition VMRO-DPMNE party, on the two best known corruption cases against him, in which he asked for bribes to approve real-estate deals as Mayor of Strumica. Zaev has enjoyed full legal protection for these allegations – receiving a presidential pardon in 2008 and later an acquittal in 2017 from a subservient court.
Also placed under DKSK scrutiny will be the companies some of Zaev’s relatives opened in neighboring Bulgaria. It was reported that the companies are purpose created to act as contractors for a major copper mine which requires a Government approval to begin operations. Zaev initially opposed the copper mine project, but has warmed to the idea after he took over the Government.
Other top Government officials are also being investigated. One of them is Public Administration Minister Damjan Mancevski who operates a company registered in Greece. A protest organizer recently aired wiretapped conversations which include a conversation with former President and SDSM party leader Branko Crvenkovski, who raises corruption doubts about Mancevski’s company.
Koco Angusev, the Deputy Prime Minister whose extensive businesses benefited after he was appointed to the Government, including with the sale of one of them to a Greek state owned company in the midst of the name issue talks, is being investigated over a Government decision to repurpose land which benefited one of his hydro plant projects.
Chematology Clinic director Irina Panovska Stavridis is under scrutiny over giving contracts worth millions to the large pharma trading company owned by her father. Struga Mayor Ramiz Merko will have to explain the legality of his purchase of an Audi A6 he bragged about on television. His move was particularly damaging for the ruling coalition which has insisted that former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski and many from his Government have to go to prison after they ordered the purchase of an armored vehicle used to transport visiting dignitaries. In response to this rare investigation against an official from the “untouchable” DUI party, a DKSK member appointed by DUI demanded an investigation into a purchase of a vehicle by Supreme Court Chief Justice Jovo Vangelovski, who is one of the rare top state officials appointed during the VMRO-DPMNE Government who is still in office. DKSK will also investigate the pay hike ordered in the Supreme Court and the Judicial Council.
A series of nepotistic public sector hirings are also reported and the Commission will look into them. A major residential/commercial development in downtown Skopje, which involves the Macedonian Orthodox Church, will be investigated by the DKSK as well.
DKSK reports its findings to the state prosecutors, who can then decide whether to press charges.
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