Of the 165 proposals for criminal charges that were submitted by the State Anti-Corruption Commission (DKSK) in the entire history of this institution, only three have reached the court, DKSK President Biljana Ivanovska said today. The Commission can investigate allegations of corruption, conflict of interest and suspicious property reports from public officials, but it can’t prosecute them – best it can do is submit its findings to the state prosecutors.

This, Ivanovska and her team have done often. But even more often there is no response from the prosecutors and the judiciary. In the past three years under her watch, the Commission made 18 proposals that criminal cases are initiated against office holders. 

We received replies in only six cases – twice it was to tell us that the proposal is rejected, twice that the facts of the case have since changed, and only two initiatives are being processed. We need to strengthen the state prosecutors’ service so that it can respond to our requests, Ivanovska said.

Yesterday, Macedonia again ranked at an exceptionally low leve, between 87th and 95th in the owrld, in fighting corruption, according to the annual Transparency International report.