US Department of State: Corruption in the Republic of North Macedonia is appalling

The American ambassador in Skopje, Angela Ageler, announced that the authorities in Washington will include more persons from the Republic of North Macedonia in the "Black List" due to the great corruption in the country. This was reported by the BGNES correspondent from Skopje.

Today, Ageler commented on the statements of former Deputy Prime Minister Kocho Angyushev that he will appeal the decision of the State Department, which placed him on the "Black List" due to "large-scale corruption".

"I assure you that there will be other names on the list. There is no specific time frame when they will be sanctioned," Ageler said, adding that there is an "epidemic of corruption" in the country that must be prevented.

BGNES reminds the US Department of State announced on November 5 that it was placing Kocho Angyushev on the "Black List".

Ageler announced the same day that the sanctions against Angyushev are further proof that the US will continue to sanction corrupt individuals in the country and the region, regardless of their position, political affiliation, or the time of the crime.

"More sanctions will follow, but it is a fact that our efforts and our sanctions cannot fix the corruption epidemic in North Macedonia," she noted.

Some of the sanctioned individuals are connected to the financial network of North Macedonian oligarch Orce Kamchev, who was blacklisted by the US in July 2023 for corruption, abuse of office, money laundering, and other crimes over a decade, reminds BGNES.

Ortse Kamchev, during the authoritarian regime of Nikola Gruevski, was the most powerful and influential businessman in the country, in the media sector as well, where he owned powerful publishing houses, including those for propaganda against Bulgaria. /BGNES