Following the emergence of a scandal involving a conflict of interest within the Ministry of Stefan Andonovski, where the State Secretary’s husband secured a tender, the SCPC initiated an investigation. Citizens are awaiting action from the Public Prosecutor’s Office to resolve the matter. Amidst public grief over the accident in Kochani, in which 59 young people died and approximately 200 sustained injuries, Minister Andonovski demanded an apology from SDSM a mere three days after the tragic event, according to Metodija Ilievski, vice president of SDSM.

Instead of issuing an apology to Minister Andonovski, SDSM has chosen to reveal indications of another scandal, specifically a tender of 600,000 denars for an access control system awarded to “BOKI SIMPLE TEK SOLUSHNS” DOO Skopje. Information received from whistleblowers suggests that the owners of this company are the parents of Borche Mladenovski, an employee in the IT sector of the same ministry.

SDSM is calling on Andonovski to address the veracity of these claims, questioning whether the 600,000-denar tender was ultimately awarded to the parents of a ministry employee. The email address provided by the legal entity in the tender documentation, borce002@gmail.com, raises further questions. SDSM’s attempts to access a list of Ministry of Digital Transformation employees were unsuccessful, as the document is reportedly still in preparation.

Ilievski stated that selectivity and selective justice are needed for all other cases of the government that it does, and not only for the tragedy in Kochani and the institutions must not remain silent about the tender networks because it concerns public funds. The timing of Andonovski’s demand for an apology, occurring on the day of the victims’ funeral, demonstrates a lack of concern for the tragic event. SDSM maintains its commitment to uncovering the truth and safeguarding the public interest.