Skopje, 20 March 2024 (MIA) — The Struga Primary Public Prosecutor's Office has filed criminal charges against Struga Mayor Ramiz Merko for professional misconduct.

He is charged with "Unscrupulous Operation Within the Service" according to Article 353-c Paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code, which says: "An official person or authorized person in public enterprise or public institution who, through breach of the legal regulations for conflict of interest or for scrupulous action during the performance of a discretion authority, with omission of relevant supervision or in other way obviously incorrectly acts in the performance of his authorization and duties and thus acquires a benefit for himself or causes a damage to another, shall be sentenced to imprisonment of three months to three years."

According to the PPO in a press release, the defendant had knowingly violated legal regulations when he appointed an acting director to an elementary school in the village of Labunishta on Jan. 31, 2022.

Merko had appointed a person who was not an employee, violating Article 118 of the Law on Primary Education. The appointee also did not have the legally required work experience in education.

The acting director received a salary for 19 months, the release says, adding that this damaged the school's budget "in the total amount of the unfounded paychecks and contributions."

Previously, Struga Mayor Ramiz Merko was designated for significant corruption by the US Department of State. mr/