The website of the State Anti-Corruption Commission holds more information about debates, forums and public events rather than information about procedures initiated by the Commission. Namely, from June to today, the website of the SACC had only six notifications for procedures, seven announcements for press events or forums held, and one public warning for prevention of corruption.
International Anti-Corruption Day in Macedonia was marked with a forum, on which the State Anti-Corruption Commission (SACC) signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Association of the Units of Local Self-Government (ZELS).
The head of SACC, Gjorgji Slamkov, said that so far they’ve submitted seven initiatives for criminal prosecution to the Public Prosecutor and that this year they passed around 40 public warnings of public officials where a conflict of interest was established. According to him, it is the only means by which the Commission can act, and which is in accordance with the Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest.
– Commission consistently receives complaints from citizens regarding corruption cases and conflict of interests and acts on them – said Slamkov at today’s celebration of the International Anti-Corruption.
According to Slagjana Taseva of “Transparency International”, nothing is done in order to reduce corruption in Macedonia. She says that the only thing that SACC makes are trips abroad for capacity building, which are then not used in the fight against corruption in Macedonia.
– There wasn’t an effective fight against corruption. Forums and debates are organized just to show that something is being done, when in fact, nothing is done. It is obvious that the action taken by the authorities is insufficient, and institutions are ineffective in dealing with corruption. There are still serious shortcomings in the rule of law, which creates suspicion for the judiciary and the Assembly as an institution among the citizens. There is an apparent lack of commitment of the institutions to take measures to clear the suspicion of corruption, which is related to those in power and that’s why the untouchability of those responsible for corruption is an everyday occurrence which should be eradicated – says Taseva.
Memorandum with the anti-corruption policies was signed by more than 40 mayors, thus starting the process of implementation of the system of integrity in their municipalities.
