If prosecutor Iskra Hadzi Vasileva hadn’t launched an investigation, the public in North Macedonia would not have learned earlier this year that 350,000 euros was found hidden inside a wall in the family home of the parents of Skopje Appeal Court Judge Gjoko Ristov.
The search inside the house in the town of Negotino was linked to an investigation launched last December in which a lawyer was originally arrested who had solicited money from a client, a suspected person in another case, in order to bribe the judge.
Following this eye-catching case, BIRN analysed how judges in North Macedonia report their assets. Our findings show that a judge who refuses to declare his or her assets or fails to report a significant change in their financial status can only be dismissed if the system catches it in time. And, as institutions are often late with inspections, violations expire.
While some judges in North Macedonia have been caught taking bribes and been convicted and dismissed, none has lost their job for refusing to declare assets.
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