State Commission for Prevention of Corruption (SCPC) President Tatjana Dimitrovska has been charged in a case concerning secrecy clearance, that is, prosecutors suspect another person, a State Audit Office employee, took the test for her. Dimitrovska got the certificate.
“In order to obtain a Passed Exam Certificate, in August 2024, from the official phone, through the Viber app, she sent to the auditor computer data, logs for access to an electronic system for training of the Directorate for Security of Classified Information”, the Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office for Prosecution of Organised Crime and Corruption said on Friday, adding that the auditor, from the official electronic device of the Office, had accessed by using her email and passed the classified information test for her.
Dimitrovska has also faced an indictment proposal for disclosing an official secret, that is, the Office said that from May to December of 2024, she would submit secret information to Nebojsa Stojanovic, former head of the Negotino plant, who’s now among those charged in the Additive case.
“Through her official telephone and Viber and WhatsApp, she would give data to the defendant on initiated procedures, opening of cases against the now-charged legal entities and physical persons in the case, official notes on opening of a case and assignment of a SCPC member, decisions on them, as well as data on checks of assets of the defendant and his family. With her actions, she revealed data that, according to the law, are considered an official secret and whose revealing can have harmful consequences for both the service and procedures run before the Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office for Prosecution of Organised Crime and Corruption”, the Office noted.
Measures of precaution have been issued against the aforementioned auditor (temporarily taking away of a travel or other document required for crossing the state border).
Commenting on the charges filed against its President, the State Commission for Prevention of Corruption (SCPC) has said that it has the credibility to continue its work. It points out that accountability is individual, while Dimitrovska is the one that should say whether she will resign.
Though Parliament can dismiss her through the Committee on Election and Appointment Issues, so far, official plans by parties haven’t been presented.
“We will present our stand starting from Monday”, VMRO-DPMNE Parliamentary Group Coordinator Nikola Micevski says.
SDSM, on its part, points out it will follow the situation and wait to see what the investigation will show at the end. On the other hand, VLEN’s Bekim Qoku stresses that the situation was bad news for the whole of society and North Macedonia.
“Those that are required to protect us against corruption are charred with corruption. We give our all for nobody to be above the law”, he explains.