Denunciation: Dozens of officials suspected of corruption in Skopje are not being prosecuted by the judiciary

2024-01-31 19:43:46, Kosova & Bota CNA

Denunciation: Dozens of officials suspected of corruption in Skopje are not

Judicial authorities in North Macedonia have not prosecuted 56 initiatives against officials suspected of involvement in corruption, nepotism, organized crime and other legal violations.

This was announced on Wednesday by the State Commission for the Prevention of Corruption in North Macedonia, which has also initiated criminal lawsuits based on the various denunciations that have come to the address of this institution.

"From our initiatives for criminal prosecution submitted to the public prosecutor's offices, until now no decision of the public prosecutor's office has reached the courts. It is about the cases of the current composition of the Anti-Corruption Commission. However, there were no lawsuits even from the past compositions, which are more than 200 initiatives for criminal prosecution that we have processed in the criminal prosecution bodies", said Biljana Ivanovska, head of the Commission for the fight against corruption.

The denunciations of this institution come at a time when North Macedonia is facing numerous criticisms for the lack of results in the fight against corruption.

This was also highlighted in the last report of the organization Transparency International, despite the fact that the country has improved by two places.

This report, as the main problem for the lack of results, has emphasized the changes in the Criminal Code, which were made by the Government of Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski, in 2023, which freed from criminal prosecution many officials and former officials suspected of corruption.

"With the changes to the Criminal Code that were approved within 24 hours, which reduced the sentences for many corrupt officials, with the annulment of over 200 court proceedings and with a judiciary that has the trust of only one percent of the population, we cannot expect results of good. So, first we must be clear with ourselves whether we are for a sincere war against corruption, or only for a declarative war. That we have failed in this war as a state, the reports of the EC speak with the same recommendation for every year - that the institutions act further with the initiatives, with the recommendations of independent bodies, that the cases have a judicial epilogue", emphasized Ivanovska .

Even the American ambassador in North Macedonia, Angela Aggeler, has commented on the situation in the judiciary several times.

She has said that, despite the dedication and great financial assistance of the American Government in recent decades for the establishment of a functional and independent judicial system, the results are lacking.