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MILS: News from the FYROM, 97-02-25Macedonian Information Liaison Service Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: "Macedonian Information Liaison Service" <mils@mils.spic.org.mk>CONTENTS
MILS SUPPLEMENTMILS NEWSSkopje, 25 February, 1997[01] UNIVERSITY AND SECONDARY SCHOOL PROTESTS WITH LESS INTENSITYProtests of university and secondary school students directed against the Pedagogical Faculty (PF) Bill, in Skopje and several other cities throughout Macedonia have started to lose intensity yesterday - media report. Yet several hundreds of protesters have passed the same itinerary as on previous days, stopping in front of the Government, the Parliament and the Ministry of Education.According to police records app. 500 demonstrated in front of these state institutions yesterday. Protest organisers, the leadership of the Student Body at the PF, has stated in this context that this was to be attributed to the fact that the police had undertaken measures to prevent secondary school students from laving their schools to join the announced demonstration. The latter held yesterday - as the one on Friday - was not marked by nationalist slogans and exclamations which had been present earlier on. Another thing missing yesterday was the barrage of eggs and other produce upon the walls of the above mentioned state institutions. Media reported that in several other cities throughout the country (e.g. Prilep, Ohrid, Tetovo, Strumica, Kumanovo, Berovo and Kavadarci) there had been more protests, mainly involving secondary school pupils. But again these demonstrations had not been of the same intensity as those during the preceding days. It has also been noticed that a smaller number of pupils had not attended classes at secondary schools. In addition to this MTV reports that the statement given by PM Crvenkovski two days ago - following the urgent Government session - had been assessed as the performance of a PM in the role of a D.A. by protest organisers and participants alike. Due to the non-fulfillment of submittted requests, organisers demanded the increased participation of university and secondary school students. [02] MACEDONIA EXPECTS MORE BILATERAL ASSISTANCE BY COUNTRIES INVITED TO DONORS' CONFERENCEAs of yesterday Vice-President Jane Miljoski has been staying in Brussels where he has met the European Commissioner in charge of finances, Yves Tibeault de Silaguy. MTV reports that talks had focused on the confirmation of European assistance worth 50 million dollars for Macedonia, in shape of a favourable 15-year credit. It has however also been mentioned that this sum does not suffice to cover the financial deficit of Macedonia totalling 85 million dollars.MTV reveals that as of today (the start of the Donors' Conference in Brussels) Macedonia expects a greater amount of funds in shape of bilateral aid, donated by countries invited to the Conference. So far only the Netherlands have announced the rendering of this kind of assistance (a discrete bilateral donation) of all European countries. `Dnevnik' reports that Japan announced a contribution of five million dollars, whereas the US have restricted themselves to the import of sensitive goods. [03] NEW ROUND OF NAME NEGOTIATIONS COMMENCES TOMORROWThe new round of Greek-Macedonian negotiations on the name-issue, under the auspices of Cyrus Vance, are to commence in New York tomorrow - Macedonian media report.The Macedonian Radio is quoting diplomatic circles in Skopje upon revealing that the Macedonian side does not intend to swerve away from the repeatedly expressed view that the name of the Republic of Macedonia is in concordance to the country's Constitution - and represents a complex reference. [04] RIFKIND & FRCHKOVSKI MEET IN LONDON TODAYAs of yesterday the Macedonian Head of Diplomacy is visiting Great Britain where he has been received by representatives of the Foreign Office. Today he is to be received by British Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind, as well as by members of the British Parliament and several political personalities during lunch. It has also been scheduled for Frchkovski to give a lecture at the British Royal Institute.[05] MACEDONIAN PARLIAMENT TO BE ADDRESSED BY ITALIAN PRESIDENT SCALFARO TOMORROWTomorrow the Macedonian Parliament is to be addressed by the President of the Republic of Italy, Oscar Luigi Scalfaro. The Italian Head of State is to speak to the assembly after the 60th session has been brought to its close. The subsequent session is to revolve around the Report on Monitoring the State's National Intelligence Service Activities between February 1995 and the beginning of 1996 - as well as around the draft bills on religious communities and religious groups, on gambling, on VAT on goods and services, etc.[06] FINNISH PARLIAMENTARY DELEGATION VISITING MACEDONIAFor the past three days a Parliamentay delegation from the Republic of Finnland has been staying in Macedonia. It has been received by President Gligorov, by Parliamentary Chairman Tito Petkovski, by the Under- Secretary for Foreign Affairs Ognen Malevski and by representatives of the Parliamentary Foreign Policy Commission.According to the Chairperson of the latter, Ms. Ilinka Mitreva, talks with the Finnish delegation had confirmed Macedonian expectations of Finnish support for the imminent closing of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement with the EU, as well as for the integration of Macedonia into political, economic and security structures of Europe. Upon stressing that Finnland and Macedonia have a lot of things in common as two small nations, the head of the Finnish delegation Marku Alonnen emphasised at yesterday's press conference that Finnland was happy of having had the opportunity to render Macedonia assistance, within the UNPREDEP mission operations. [07] TURKISH-MACEDONIAN COOPERATION AGREEMENT IN THE JUDICIARY DOMAINYesterday the Justice Depts. of Turkey and Macedonia have signed an agreement in Ankara, focusing on the bilateral extradition of convicts into their country of origin. The treaty has been signed by the Justice Secretaries of both countries - Shefke Kazan and Vlado Popovski.[08] COUNCIL OF EUROPE TO SET UP LOCAL EMBASSY IN OHRIDOn 3rd May this year, the Council of Europe is to open an Embassy for Local Democracy in Ohrid, `Vecher' reports in its current edition. According to Ohrid Mayor Atanas Ivanov, this has been decided during last year's meeting at Kardica (Greece) which had been attended by a Macedonian delegation comprised of representatives of the Association of Municipalities and Cities.[09] HUGE CROWDS FIGHTING AT `PELAGONIJA' PREMISESYesterday, in the morning hours, a large-scale incident involving physical violence occurred at the premises of the Skopje-based `Pelagonija' construction contractor. The show-down occurred between the former Director- General Ivan Dichev and thirty `goons' who had entered the company premises forcefully - and a group of company employees.The fight required police intervention, and eventually led to the apprehending of Dichev and several of his hirelings. Media report that the suspended managers of `Pelagonija' - led by Director- General Dichev - and thirty more individuals had entered company premises forcefully, locked all entrances and thus denied access to employees. A group of the latter resorted to requesting back-up from several construction sites in Skopje. A larger group of employees succeeded in entering the company building, which resulted in the direct confrontation and use of physical violence, during which the former managers and their mercenaries soon ended up at the receiving end. Predominantly used weapons did exclude firearms, though still many were injured and the police special forces were required to intervene. This resulted in the arrest of most of the `goons' and the former `Pelagonija' managers, headed by Dichev. These events were also followed by a huge number of Skopje citizens, gathered in front of the company HQ. In the opinion of the current company management the forceful entering of former Director-General Dichev and his companions had been staged in order to destroy certain documents, as well as to divide employees and take over company governance. Official police records reveal that the fights had resulted in the arrest of 14 people, the severe injuring of four (who have been transported to the Trauma Centre). A gun had been found with one person, fortunately unused. Besides this, media also report that unrest had been accumulating for some time at the `Pelagonija' premises. Towards the close of last year, the majority of company employees (7 600) had been laid off. Discontent by such measures, i.e. by the lack of contracts for the company, withheld pay and criminal offences which had been occurring - employees staged a strike which entailed the suspension of Director-General Dichev and several executive board members by shareholders. What has nevertheless been retained was the privatisation model - previously approved by the Privatisation Agency. As regards the suspending of the former `Pelagonija' management, i.e. the mode in which this has been conducted, the final epilogue on this is to be given by the corresponding judiciary instance next month. In the meantime the `Pelagonija' management has held several press conferences - announcing the closing of numerous significant deals with foreign partners, which are to be implemented once these managers have retained their positions. As this kind os `persuasion' was of no help, and information on these deals denied, the suspended managers opted for violent means, which led to yesterday's unfortunate climax. [10] D.A. CANDIDATES DETERMINEDDuring yesterday's regular session the Macedonian Government discussed and outlined the draft-bill on social protection, in addition to discussing the proposed nominations for D.A. posts and their deputies. Session minutes reveal that a total 509 nominations were available, whereas priority had been given to those who have held such posts previously. It has furthrmore been stressed that concordant to Government regulations 193 slots have to be filled, of which 22 fall off to Basic District Attorneys, three for the subsequent (senior D.A.) level and 167 were intended for their deputies. The proposal on appointing D.A.s and deputies outlined yesterday - it is being reported - will be submitted to the Parliament for further processing.In connection to the oultilend draft-bill on social protection, Labour and Social Policy Minister Naser Ziberi stated yesterday that novelties in this domain emphasised the preventive role of the state, through the organising of education activities and counselling functions of corresponding institutions - as well as through instigating self- initiatives and volunteer projects. Minister Ziberi further underlined that another novelty promoted the extra-institutional organising of social services - following contemporary trends conducive to the more expedient re-socialisation of citizens (handicapped cases first and foremost). [11] GOVERNMENT SOON TO AIR ITS POSITION ON `AUDI / VOLKSWAGEN' DEALRecently the representatives of `ASIBA-MG' and representatives of the twelve companies / component suppliers for the AUDI - 3 project, did hold a meeting which resulted in the urgent request for a meeting with PM Crvenkovski. The latter is required to explicate the reasons due to which the Government has not yet signed the contract with AUDI, i.e. Volkswagen, for the production of the A 3 model which was supposed to be produced in Macedonia.`Dnevnik' reports that the Volkswagen Board has notified the Macedonian Government that unless it did confirm by today that the preliminary contract was to be signed, and the terms proposed by Volkswagen accepted - the next suppliers meeting would be held in Zagreb and the project offered to Croatia. Other countries interested in this project include Egypt and Hungary, `Dnevnik' reports. The deal between Volkswagen, ASIBA-MG and the Macedonian Government regarding the production of the A 3 model of AUDI (a component of the German Volkswagen Group) has not been signed in Skopje recently, as the Government felt it should reconsider certain details of the deal. `Dnevnik' ascribes the main reason for this reluctance to sign the contract, i.e. the Government's `pensiveness' to the clause that in the future it should be possible to import Volkswagen vehicles with a 1% customs rate - which embodies a violation of Macedonian customs rates which are legally binding. The government emphasised that such a request was not concord to WTO provisions, and that such a measure would discriminate other companies selling vehicles on this market. [12] `FENIMAK' RESUMES OPERATIONS AGAINUpon examining the amount of exhaust fuels and dust in the air, the appropriate ministry has concluded that the level of air pollution - ascribed to a malfunction of the electrostatic filter of the `Fenimak' rotation smeltery - has been brought back to normal parameters again, which is why the company resumed production after a pause of four days. This has been revealed by Macedonian media yesterday, upon informing that the recent incident regarding the filter and the suspension of production imposed on the company by the corresponding ministry entailed the substitution of the filter and the lowering of the air pollution level to 120 mg per cubic metre - which is concordant to standards set prior to the commencing of production at `Fenimak'. Information revealed at the press conference nevertheless indicates that the dust emission has increased by four times in comparison to the maximum limit imposed by the recently enacted Law on Human Habitat. In order to resolve this issue the company is in need of 2.5. million dollars. As `Dnevnik' reports talks with the corresponding Minister Jorgo Shundovski have resulted in their decision to integrate `Fenimak' into the National Ecological Agenda by the end of this year, and to procure international funding for the reduction of pollution to global standards.[13] MAYOR ELECTIONS AT TETOVO, MP ELECTIONS AT GOSTIVARAccording to unofficial data on the (for the fifth time) repeated mayor elections at Tetovo, staged last Sunday, the new mayor of this city is the PDPA candidate Alaydin Demiri. Media report that his victory followed a lead over PDP's Abduyali Veseli, NPD's Liman Kurtishi and DPM's Tomislav Stojanovski - Bombay in round one - i.e. the agreement to jointly support the PDPA candidate by the PDP and the PDPA. The electorate turn-out at the most recent repeated voting at Tetovo totalled 65%. No incidents were registered during this event.At Gostivar the second round for a seat in the Macedonian Parliament were staged at election unit 17, as former MP Rufi Osmani is now holding the office of mayor of Gostivar. Media report a weak electorate turn-out of merely 20%. Most recent information indicate a lead of PDPA candidate Nadzhi Burde, over Zembri Elezi (PDP), Srekjko Lazarevski (SDSM) and Smilko Ilkovski (DPM). [14] CRIMINAL CHARGES FILED AGAINST TENThe state cannot assume responsibility for the damage inflicted on citizens as a result of their voluntary depositing of funds in shape of leases, loans, etc. - states the most recent information released by the Government in relation to measures undertaken due to current events occurring at several banks and savings houses throughout the country. It has been emphasised that public awareness is a decisive factor in preventing this kind of scandals - in addition to the fact that upon the voluntary depositing of funds one should not only bear in mind material gain but also potential risks. the Government nevertheless considers it inevitable that the state and its institutions implement energetic measures to counter the illegal acquiring of funds belonging to the public. In this context emphasis is being placed on control mechanisms, on enacting legislation on executive procedures and more expedient implementation of such procedures - as well as on the tightening up of penal policy and the initiating of the criminal prosecution of offenders.MILS SUPPLEMENT[15] `Judicial Epilogue on Savings Troubles'(`Vecher' - 21st February, 1997)Strengthened inspection controls, enforcement of a particular legal regulation, a more rigorous criminal policy, the sppeding up of ongoing proceedings, directing the attention to the necessary civilian precaution when depositing money in non-financial institutions... All these are just part of the measures that will be taken by the Government of the Republic of Macedonia in order to prevent and sanction the occurrence of savings embezzlement damaging the citizens, and at the same time this is the answer to the request of the Liberal Party members in the Parliament of RM, entailing a parliamentary discussion during next week. At this discussion, besides indicating the particular savings banks and firms which in various ways have collected means from citizens, it has been announced that the essence of the legal aspect of these cases will be explicated in front of the judiciary instances. More precisely, it is to be discussed whether the criminal act of `cheating the people' has been committed or the case presents a purely `civil law suit' where the citizens, with no help from the state, will realise their rights by casting imputations. Objects to court-explications and checking are the number of cases that have recently been stirring the public and which are suspected to be cases involving the deception of the public. Thus, regarding the case of the `Alfa-S' bank it is said that three members of the management board: Slave Nestorovski, Dimitar Velkov and Slobodan Toshevski (despite the ban on any bank performances imposed by the National Bank of RM except as regards payment of deposits), `have deluded a large number of savings depositors'. They did this by making agreements with the citizens on basis of term deposits although they knew that they could not return the means. The deposited amount covers 41.000.000 denars. Only Toshevski has been taken into custody and the trial has not been scheduled yet. The citizens have brought criminal charges against Rade Mickovski, manager of `Delimedze' for a damage of about 120.000 DM. He is also suspected of `false presentation and covering up facts about his firm' in closing agreements and interest payments. There are also charges against Ljubomir Hristovski, owner of `Korona', who has neither returned his debt nor paid any interest to the people who lend him money. Fraud is also the reason for criminal charges against `Jugomarket' and its owner Jasmin Moralich who is now taken into custody after a longer period of evading the proceedings. He has been hiding the fact that the NBM had taken away his work permit and that he had contined to close loan agreements with the citizens. There is justified fraud suspicion in the cases of the `Lavci' bank from Ohrid and the `Komerc' firm from Kumanovo, while in the last case with `Makedonija-reklam' a final investigation is in course due to criminal charges against the owner Zoran Blazevski on part of the citizens. Their total deposit amounts up to 1.752.790 DM. The investigation will show whether the statements comprising the criminal charges will be sufficient for legal proceedings which will eventually reveal whether the citizens have been cheated when they deposited means in this firm. The summary data show that the Public Prosecutor's Offices have received criminal charges against 10 persons. The suspects have been mainly accused of fraud by `misleading a person and misleading by false presentation or by hiding facts, all which induced the person to do something damaging either to his own or others' property'. Currently at the Public Prosecutor's Office of Macedonia the attitude is defended that the bank and firm owners, with the fact that they have been hiding their true intentions, have been misleading the clients and have been gaining an illegal property profit. The proceedings shall have to prove that the intention of the accused was to cheat on the ones who had suffered the damage. Arguments of the public prosecutor say that some banks had been working despite the ban imposed by the National Bank of RM (`Alfa- S' and `Jugomarket'), that they have been hiding the fact that some of the banks were brought to bankruptcy proceedings and that they would become non- liquid immediately after an interest payment or a deposit withdrawal. All this involves at the same time a large number of damaged citizens, large amounts of money, suspects in flight and a new form of conducting a criminal act - fraud. The Prosecutor's Office cites that the main defence argument could be the the written deposit and interest agreements. The existence of a written agreement presents the agreement and the will of both parties . If such agreements are proven to exist, the accusations gain a civil law character and the damaged citizens would have to realise their rights through civil proceedings and civil charges. (end)mils news 25 February 1997Macedonian Information Liaison Service Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |
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