The State Commission for Prevention of Corruption decided to submit an Initiative for initiating criminal proceedings to the Basic Public Prosecutor's Office in Skopje, against Dear Rashkovski и Muhamed Zeqiri, former General Secretaries of the Government of the Republic of Northern Macedonia, on suspicion that during the performance of their official duties, they committed the criminal offense "Abuse of official position and authority" under Article 353 paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code.

The reason, ie legal basis for the formation of the case from the SCPC is information that during April 2021 was published by several media - that the Government of the Republic of Northern Macedonia for the needs of the General Secretariat - to perform specific engagements, based on copyright contracts hired a large number of individuals outside the ranks of employees, whereby fees were paid which in just one month amounted to over 37.000 euros, ie over one million euros for 2019 and 2020. According to the allegations in the media, some of the engagements included counseling, preparation of feasibility studies, writing studies and announcements.

"The SCPC has learned that in the period from 2017 to 2021 from the General Secretariat of the Government to the Ministry of Finance were sent more than [1] 40 requests for securing consent for funds provided for the specific period, for hiring persons on the basis of copyright contract. According to the SCPC, it is noteworthy that on the same date as the approximate dates within one year, several requests for consent were sent for provided funds for the engagement of different number of persons contained in the requests.

The SCPC became aware that finally, before concluding the agreement, the General Secretariat wrote to the copyright agency, requesting the conclusion of a copyright agreement with specific persons whose personal data (name, personal identification number, residential address, transaction account) are contained. in the request, which lists the tasks that the person will perform, the monthly fee and the period of engagement. The SCPC has learned that in the period from 2017 to 2021, more than 170 requests for drafting and concluding copyright agreements with specific persons have been sent from the General Secretariat to the agency "Artpick" DOOEL, say the SCPC.

According to the SCPC, after determining the factual situation, it can be concluded that the described manner of engaging natural persons has bypassed the application of the relevant provisions of the Law on Public Employees and the Law on Administrative Servants which cover the general principles (principle of equal conditions, equal access to the workplace, adequate and equitable representation, the principle of expertise and competence), as well as the manner of planning the employees and the manner of conducting the employment procedures.

"The SCPC believes that such procedures impose a risk of influencing the engaged persons, not only personally, but also in various aspects of the work they performed. Additionally, they give preference to the persons engaged in the employment procedures that are conducted in accordance with the relevant legal provisions - 28 employees have been identified for whom the SCPC has acquired information that they were previously hired on the basis of a copyright agreement.