Blind to nepotism while in power, in opposition it’s all they see

SDSM yesterday asked VMRO-DPMNE leader Hristijan Mickoski and MP Antonio Milošoski to tell their relatives to resign from state-owned enterprises where they are employees. Instead of an answer, the ruling party received a counter-attack, that is, a new case of nepotism by SDSM officials, pointing to MP Tanja Kovacev, who allegedly managed to find a job for her husband, sister, brother-in-law and sister-in-law who, according to the opposition, makes her a record-holder in the epidemic series that swept the high-ranking government officials.

SDSM yesterday said that VMRO-DPMNE should take a look at its own backyard and see how it was possible for the party’s president Mickoski to start his career at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering as his father’s assistant. In addition, Mickoski’s cousin was employed by ELEM during the reign of the former ruling party. When it comes to former Foreign Minister Milososki, there are accusations of nepotism because of his sister-in-law Aleksandra in the PRO, his uncle Vladimir in the Cadastre, his cousin Stanko in the Central Registry, his cousin Elizabeta in primary school, and his brother-in-law Marijan in MEPSO. Mickoski’s wife works at the Orce Nikolov high school, but has been employed there since 2005 when her life partner was not an important political figure.
The Social Democrats vehemently criticized the VMRO-DPMNE-led government that ruled the country in the period between 2006 and 2017 for hiring of a large number of relatives and members of the party. The first signal for strong family ties was seen in the trio of cousins: Gruevski-Mijalkov, considering that Nikola was Prime Minister, Saso became the head of the Security and Counter-Intelligence Directorate, and Vlatko head of the Customs Administration.

Vlatko Ilievski – her boyfriend at the time, and now the husband of Interior Minister Gordana Jankuloska first got a job in Gruevski’s cabinet, and then was appointed head of the Inspection Council. The then Minister Jankuloska said that there was nothing disputable that her boyfriend applied to a public ad because he had an appropriate level of education, quality and experience.

“Being close or related to a politician or a public official must not be the basis for functioning as long as there is a system of values ​​and a legally sound procedure. It’s not about nepotism,” Jankuloska said.

Finance Minister Trajko Slaveski was accused of having employed his daughter at the Foreign Investment Agency. Interestingly enough, the then opposition official and current minister, Damjan Mancevski, suspected that Slaveska’s only recommendation compared to other candidates was that she was the daughter of the Minister of Finance.

There was also a number of other accusations of nepotism, through a relative of Gruevski’s wife and relatives of MP Ane Laskoska, as well as a huge number of party members who were employed in the administration via public ads that increased just before the fall of the government.

Yesterday, however, the now opposition party VMRO-DPMNE announced a new case of suspicious employment in state-owned enterprises. The “White Palace” is convinced that Tanja Kovacev has even surpassed her colleague Mira Stojcevska.

“Is MP Tanja Kovacev’s husband, Dejan Kovacev, employed at AD Airport Services – Airports of Macedonia without the adequate education? Is the sister of the same MP, Katerina Hadzievska-Jakimovska, employed in the PRO as an inspector for games of chance? Is her sister’s husband, Boban Jakimovski employed in ‘Water and Sewerage’ – Skopje? Was Eleonora Fundu, her sister-in-law, or sister of the MP’s husband, appointed as the chairman of the Supervisory Board of AD Airport Services – Airports of Macedonia where Dejan Kovacev also works? We have the first case of employed sister-in-law, besides all cases of employed mothers, sons, daughters, sisters, brothers, mothers-in-law, husbands, fathers-in-law, and hairdressers of senior SDSM officials,” VMRO-DPMNE officials say, and point out that in the following days they will continue to inform the public of new cases of nepotism from the ranks of the government.

Goran Adamovski