The State Anti-Corruption Commission suspects that the bank account of Prime Minister Zoran Zaev’s European Affairs adviser, Ljupco Zafirovski, was opened unlawfully. To determine the real situation, anti-corruption officials will seek the assistance of the Foreign Exchange Inspectorate at the Ministry of Finance. Moreover, such an account may be used for other unlawful purposes.

At today’s session, it was said that after the checks it was established that Zafirovski had a bank account abroad and that his advisory fees were paid through that account. Contributions and duties to the state have been paid for the year, but there is no data on whether the rules were respected in 2018 as well.

However, with further checks, the anti-corruption officials found that the prime minister’s adviser had three accounts in Macedonia and they ask why the Secretary-General of the Government did not find it suspicions when Zafirovski demanded that his fees are paid through a bank in another country. Opening an account abroad requires a condition – either to have a three-month permanent residence in the country or to have dual citizenship.