Meta went to investigate whether sunglasses of the brand Maybach, like the ones worn by Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, could be found in stores around Skopje. The Government negated the information published by some news outlets that the Prime Minister is wearing a $60,000 pair of sunglasses.
– The sunglasses do not contain any diamonds and are not as luxurious as the media claims. The sunglasses are just an average pair with an average price, such as can be purchased in any regular store that sells sunglasses- can be read in the Government’s response.
“Meta” went around optical stores in Skopje to find whether any are selling the brand Maybach, whose logo can be seen on the photos of Prime Minister Gruevski.
In some of the stores they have never heard about that brand and asked us to repeat the name. In others, the employees responded with a polite smile and simply said they don’t carry those sunglasses.
We also called several optical stores where they underscored that there aren’t any suppliers or retailers which carry that brand and they suggested the sunglasses might have been purchased from abroad or at a duty free shop.
On the official website of „Мајбах“, Macedonia is not among the countries where this brand is sold, nor does it say that they ship their products here.
At the photos where the Prime Minister appears, it is clearly visible that the pair of shades is of the brand Maybach. The Government’s statement does not mention any brand names or the price of the glasses worn by the Prime Minister.
Spokesperson of SDSM, Petre Shilegov, publically challenged Prime Minister Gruevski, when he returns from Israel, to “join me (he could come without his security detail, I guarantee for his safety) to the store in Skopje where he had purchased the sunglasses. If they are with an ‘average price’ such as the Government claims, then I will buy a pair and give them to the first person we see on the street.”
