Fokus confirms reports that the house that Alliance of Albanians leader Arben Taravari bought in Skopje was previously owned by a powerful businessman close to the DUI party – strongly indicating that Taravari was bribed by DUI in order to change his party’s affiliation and support the SDSM – DUI Government. The Alliance of Albanians was DUI’s loudest critic, accusing Ali Ahmeti of abusing his stranglehold on Albanian politics in Macedonia for corruption. But after AA leader Ziadin Sela resigned last year, Taravari did a U turn and is now aiming to bolster SDSM and DUI in their coalition – at least until the 2024 elections.

As he was “repositioning”, Taravari was hit by revelations that he owns a house in an expensive part of Skopje, that he allegedly bought for just 150,000 EUR – well below the market price. Taravari also didn’t provide any evidence that he actually made the payment. Another top party official from AA, as well as DUI appointed Finance Minister Fatmir Besimi, own the neighboring houses, meaning that the entire area was handled in a single, DUI affiliated deal.

Fokus now reports that the Jahoski family, whose oil trading business has blossomed under DUI and who are being given numerous state contracts, were the original owners of the lot. They Jahoski bought the house now owned by Taravari from the family of late writer Zivko Chingo in 2013. In 2017, the house was listed as owned by the Jahoski patriarch, now DUI member of Parliament Ismail Jahoski. And since 2021, it is listed as owned by Taravari. This strongly indicates that one of the leading Albanian opposition parties in Macedonia, with 8 seats in Parliament, was bought off by DUI and is enticed to join the coalition with corrupt deals – even after Taravari spent years as one of the loudest critics of DUI corrupt practices.