The mafia remains untouched

Erol Rizaov

A successful fight against corruption and organized crime is the most important precondition for achieving the strategic interests of the citizens and for saving Macedonia. The fight of this great evil that devours the substance of the state and hinders the future of many generations, with the monster that viciously and quickly makes people poor, has not yet started with the necessary determination in many directions. This is the most important thing for this government and all subsequent governments, and competent state institutions. Macedonia must announce a relentless fight against crime and corruption because the rule of law is the foundation of the state, without it being ruled by the political and business oligarchy scattered with the classical mafia, which, even a year after the change of power, is not yet ready and still works in full steam, with minor staff changes and hierarchies.

The government seems to have forgotten that it has come to power just because of the “bomb blasts” from recorded conversations that have confirmed citizens’ suspicions of the mass theft. The evaluations of the success of this government both at home and in Brussels will be determined most according to the results of the reforms that will enable the effective suppression of corruption and organized crime. Slovenia has reached the world peak, marked as the country where the laws are most respected. We need one such high spot. But in order to reach it, it is not enough to have only a Special Prosecutor’s Office and an independent judiciary. It is not enough to achieve this by proclaiming a state of emergency only by ringing bells and empty words. In addition to the long trials against the top of the former corrupt and criminal government, quick and effective investigations are necessary for suspicious corruption deals and in the ranks of the current government where it awfully reeks of both organized crime and bribery.

For years we have been disappointed that we have no prospect of success against the bribery-mania and the merger of the political and classical mafia. We are waiting for an effective system of rule of law to be established, as if it should be taken as a pill, although we know that the surgery is radical and without anesthesia. Long and tough court procedures without rulings show that reforms only in the judiciary are not enough for installing a law-abiding state. Building a law-abiding society requires a permanent frontal attack on the entire rotten and defunct system. It’s not even closely enough to free the captured state, unblock democratic processes, proclaim independent judiciary, and free media. This can only be a prerequisite for a good start after the collapse of a corrupt regime.
One Macedonian prime minister, who has been in the top of his popularity for many years ago, has vowed against the octopus for the first time on the parliamentary stand. He said he would cut the arms of the Mafia, even if they are members of SDSM. When he said it, he seemed sincere and suggestive. I wrote to him that if he fails, starting from that day, then time will turn against him. I do not know if that prime minister saw how many arms and heads the octopus had and got scared, but I know that he fled the scene, and chose a good hiding place – he became the President of the state. Today they still call him President, no one knows what he is doing, he does not say anything, he says he does not want to get in the way, he is through with politics. So, one of the most talented Macedonian politicians ended his career so early. Supposedly, he only eats grilled octopuses. In full consciousness and mind he is responding to the name Branko Crvenkovski.

His successor to the presidency, a Valandovo-based figure, surpassed him in every respect. He did not escape the battle with the octopus, but rather helped him survive. He strongly urged to save him with an abolition along with all the arms and heads, whole and untouched, healthy and alive. He even put his predecessor Crvenkovski on that list, pardoning him for unknown reasons, without any charges against him. They say it was an ancient revenge, which is served cold, after it cools down. The busy man sometimes does not know his own name, but there are still people who refer to him as President Gjorge Ivanov.
Another prime minister came after Branko Crvenkovski when he first saw the octopus in the government cabinets, and faced the arms of his own minister, who did not report to him, but only to his prime minister, immediately submitted his irrevocable resignation. He left the prime minister’s post as if nothing happened. It raised a little dust the first two or three days, what was it, what happened and that was it. It remained only noted and immediately forgotten that it was the first prime minister in Macedonia since 1944, since the forming of the state, because of the inability to sanction the participants in the corrupt bargain; moreover, the party blockade of reforms was sufficient to leave as soon as possible from a government that is not that. The position of a banker suits him more. Hari Kostov looks more like a banker than a prime minister. However, Macedonia is not a bank.

The affairs and scandals with corruption and organized crime did not bypass any government. Neither the first prime minister Nikola Kljusev, nor Ljupco Georgievski, nor Vlado Buckovski nor Nikola Gruevski, who was in office for a decade. All of them have a tail behind them, length corresponding to the years they ruled. The bombs of the last Prime Minister Zoran Zaev that were revealed by the people who recorded the monstrous conversations of criminals at the top of the government only confirm the truth of how difficult it will be to catch the octopus, or let’s be more realistic, to bring down corruption and the organized crime to some tolerable boundaries, when criminals are more afraid of the law, than when honorable people are more afraid of criminals who are in power.
Prime Minister Zoran Zaev, who revealed the recorded conversations and raised the biggest investigation in Macedonia’s history against crime, he himself is charged with bribery and is often in the courtrooms. If all governments fail to cope with this evil, or at least reduce it, whilst most of the prime ministers are personally accused of corruption, the most important question is posed: how to restore confidence in the judiciary and in the administration of justice, when both the government and the judiciary themselves are seriously suspected of directly participating in the crime and corruption. In fact, this is the definition of organized crime.

Judges from other countries are appointed for international sports competitions. International thieves and international gangsters will need international judges. Now the patriotic patriots will attack me that this is a blow to the independence of the state, and that I am striving for a protectorate. Well, if it is so, then let the Special Public Prosecutor’s Office be granted both a court division and a special police department, tax independent inspectors only for prosecuting organized crime, corruption and tax evasion in the high echelons of power.

I understand why the ruling government does not like this, but also why the opposition does not accept it, while it screams “catch the thief!” every day.