Category: Research

SCOOP research: State land divided to officials

Argument about a state land in Vevcani. Around 267 hectares under the Struga village of Vevcani have two tenants. The land is state owned and Ministry of Agriculture offers it to two owners. First under public call, issued in situations where state land is already planted and the farmer has not taken out a lease, and then it is given to public announcement. The company “Eco Project” applied, run...

The mystery of one building: in the center of Skopje, but “invisible” to the institutions

Centar Municipality has no records of the Telecom building, a striking eight-store building in the center of Skopje. Built next to the Stone Bridge and located on Macedonia square, this building is shrouded in mystery. Apart from the parties, no one knows how much the land was purchased for, how much tax has been paid for this building and what utility fees have been paid for it. Minister of...

SCOOP research: MPs – one discussion 400 Euros

  DOCUMENTATION1 DOCUMENTATION2 Sashko’s phone alarm from Kocani rings at 5:10 am sharp, when he wakes up to get ready for another day at work. He is a worker in one of the foreign investments in Eastern Macedonia, where the day should bring a daily fee of 500 denars. “I earn 12,000 denars salary. I work 25 days a month, it means every Saturday. One week first shift, the...

Ministerial salaries: half a million Euros only for salaries

  DOCUMENTATION One hundred thirty-three thousand denars or more than 2,000 Euros is the salary that former Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski has left the PM’s chair with on Ilindenska bb St. Although this is not the highest amount compared to other offices in the state, and it does not make it exclusive, but it is unique that only in our country it is a real feat to get to...

Pre-election employments: More than 1,000 new utility employees in just two years

DOCUMENTATION Obsolete equipment, reduced efficiency and disgruntled citizens. This is the image of utilities, where it seems that nothing changes except the number of employees. The research of the Center for Investigative Journalism SCOOP Macedonia showed evidence that the number of utility employees increases for every election. In 2005 there were 6,034 utility employees, in 2008 and 2009 on the eve of local elections further 1,000 people were employed....

State Commission for Prevention of Corruption in chaos: fight against corruption or protection?

Outdated data, deleted declarations of assets of former officials and a long list of current elected officials who have not submitted any yet. This picture is provided by the database of the State Commission for Prevention of Corruption when citizens try to find out how the body in charge of protection against misuse of their money by state officials works. The website of the State Commission for Prevention of...

Macedonian students with worst standards in the Balkans

Macedonia is a country of pensioners, they receive free baths, free transport, larger pensions. Unlike students, who are to bear the burden of the Macedonian society, thrown on the margins and have the worst living in the Balkans and beyond Dilapidated roofs and floors. Crumbling walls, ruined buildings. This is the picture of the Macedonian dormitories. This image is synonymous with Macedonian student standard. SCOOP Macedonia did a research...

Five bureaucrats whose salary is higher than the PM’s

Members of the Public Procurement Council (Ivica Kostojchinoski, Zlatko Arsov, Zoran Trajanovski, Suad Zejnulovikj and Borce Hristov) have higher salaries even than the President of the country, the Head of the Assembly and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Macedonia. This is data collected by the Center for Investigative Journalism SCOOP Macedonia, using the Law on free access to public information. The lowest salary in this body was...