Asked about the latest scandal involving his right hand man Dragi Raskovski, Zoran Zaev defended his adviser today. Raskovski, an IT expert, is accused of having the Interior Ministry purchase a software he has developed, for over 80,000 EUR.
– There are legitimate reasons why this was done. There are documents that will reveal why the software was procured. It is done to conduct in depth traffic analysis for the Interior Ministry. We did not just got up and decide to make a software, there was a reason for it. And if it is not in use now, it will be in the future, Zaev said.

Meanwhile, after extensive reporting from outlets usually supportive of Zaev, the DKSK Anti-Corruption Commission announced it will conduct another investigation in Raskovski. Raskovski was already audited after a leaked audio recording showed he was pressuring the air-traffic control agency to purchase Italian equipment, and after he was favoring an overpriced contract to provide med-evac services.

We believe there are enough elements in the case to investigate this software. On one hand, we will be looking into the need to purchase it in the first place, and on the other, why the software is not being used, said DKSK President Biljana Ivanovska.

During the Colored Revolution, Zaev used prosecutors close to him to go after VMRO-DPMNE officials for a similar purchase of a software in the ELEM public energy company. The software was procured legitimately, but the “crime” was in the fact that it was not fully put to use – just like Raskovski’s software is not in use now. On top of that, the fact that the author of the software was General Secretary of the Government at the time when the deal was signed makes this a clear case of high level corruption.