SCPC: We Warned About Corruption Elements with Merko Since 2019

President of the State Commission for Prevention of Corruption (SCPC) Biljana Ivanovska,
commenting in relation to the US blacklisting Struga Mayor Ramiz Merko, that the support
from the institutions of the state in the fight against corruption is of crucial importance. “Ever
since 2019 SCPC filed notices on several occasions to the Basic Court in Struga concerning
allegations for corruptive behaviour by Merko, with one of the cases being discussed by the
Judicial Council as well. However, if the Judicial Council is authorised to take measures
against courts, then who takes measures against the Judicial Council? Over the past 4 and a
half years, SCPC has done a lot, and if we managed to find allegations of corruptive
behaviour, it should be easy for other institutions to find them too,” Ivanovska said. This
provoked a reaction by the Office of Deputy PMP in charge of Good Governance Policies                                                                                                                                                                                         Slavica Grkovska, from where they react that they have no authority over the case with
Merko. “The accusations of SCPC against Grkovska and her office are ungrounded, the
Deputy PM has only the authority to act upon cases involving members of the government
and officials elected or appointed by the Government, and not officials elected by the citizens
at elections,” they stated from Grkovska’s Office. This prompted a reaction by SCPC, in
which they state that their President Ivanovska never mentioned Grkovska or her Office in
her statements.