Government refuses to get involved in the worsening public feud between the top crime prosecutor and the head of the financial police.
North Macedonia’s Chief Prosecutor for Organized Crime and Corruption, Vilma Ruskovska. Photo by Robert Atanasovski
The Social Democrat-led government on Thursday declined to comment on allegations made the previous night by the head of North Macedonia’s Organised Crime Prosecution, Vilma Ruskovska, who complained of “pressure” from Arafat Muaremi, head of the Financial Police, after she launched a pre-investigation into this institution.
Unofficially, government sources told BIRN only that the cabinet sticks with “being impartial when it comes to judicial matters, and letting judicial institutions work freely and without pressure”.
In an open letter, Ruskovska complained of pressure and attacks on her integrity from Muaremi, whom she recalled was a government appointee and her subordinate, after she launched a probe into his institution for alleged wrongdoings.
“If the government wants the state to be a real legal state rather than a legal state presented through PR stints in the media, the truth must come out,” she said.
She called the pressure against her and, as she stated, against other top prosecutors who have been tackling high-profile cases against former and current officials “appalling” for a country that is part of NATO and that has just launched EU accession talks. Ruskovska asked for help from EU and the US embassies and from the EU’s Chief Prosecutor Laura Kovesi.
The verbal and legal spat between Ruskovska and Muaremi is not new. But the international dimension is.
On July 18, the Organised Crime Prosecution entered the premises of the Financial Police in a pre-investigation procedure to check possible wrongdoings. Ruskovska then said that she had acted on a report by a group of citizens against Muaremi.
Unofficially, the media speculated that the probe was to investigate whether the Financial Police has been targeting specific businessmen to extort money or influence from them.
Muaremi, who was formerly part of now-defunct Special Prosecution, SJO, was appointed head of the Financial Police in 2018. He is seen as close to the main ruling Social Democratic Party, SDSM, which came to power in 2017.
“Macedonia is neither a dictatorship nor a monarchy. The will of some current or former government officials shouldn’t dominate [and make] prosecutors turn a blind eye to any crime, even to one committed by top echelons of the government,” Ruskovska said in her open letter.
She added that she will share more information about the probe her prosecution conducted at the Financial Police, so the public can judge who is telling the truth.
Financial Police chief Muaremi on Thursday dared Ruskovska to present any evidence of crime she might have against him and to file charges “instead of spreading empty and unfounded information, discrediting fully the office she is holding”.
Muaremi, who strongly denies wrongdoing, has been defiant from the start.
On July 25, he filed a report against Ruskovska to the State Prosecution asking it to check the legality of the search and on July 28 he asked for the dismissal of the judge, Sedat Redzepagic, who authorised the search warrant in the Financial Police.
Chef State Prosecutor Ljubomir Jovevski on Monday said that after checking the procedures, Ruskovska had given false information to the judge who authorised the search, and so the search was conducted illegally.
Ruskovska responded that neither Jovevski nor other higher instance prosecutors had a right to interfere in the work of the Organised Crime Prosecution.
The Association of Prosecutors, which has sided against Ruskovska, on Thursday said they had been “surprised by Ruskovska’s letter that tarnishes the reputation of the prosecutor’s profession and goes against the ethical codex of the prosecutors”.
The Association said it sees “no reason whatsoever for this dramatic, midnight call to the international institutions and diplomats”.
When the Social Democrats came to power in 2017 they promised to end political pressures on the judiciary that Brussels and Washington had often criticised during the previous more than 10 years’ rule of the former PM Nikola Gruevski.
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