Skopje, 03 October 2007 Zero tolerance for corruption in Macedonia

Macedonia has begun developing a front against corruption, but there is still lot of work to be done in terms of securing the independence of the investigative and judicial institutions, strengthening of NGOs and democracy.

This was stated at a press conference staged today in Skopje by the NGO Transparency-Zero corruption, at which PhD Slagjana Taseva gave an address on the implementation of the Declaration on zero tolerance of corruption, signed two years ago.

In the frameworks of the implementation of the Declaration on zero tolerance of corruption, as many as five companies were awarded with the newly-introduced Good Corporate Management Prize, including Dune Computers, JSC Inet, Procredit Bank and NLB Tutunska Bank and Eurolink-Insurance.

French judge and Advisor with the Justice Ministry, Eva Joly, greeted on the behalf of the Kingdom of Norway – a supporter of the Declaration on zero tolerance of corruption – the attendants of the conference.

Mrs. Joly acquired a world wide reputation after unearthing corruption-related affairs in powerful firms, including the oil company Elf and Crédit Lyonnais Bank, while holding a post of an investigative judge, ignoring numerous death threats. She is a recipient of the Transparency International's Integrity Award and in 2002, she was declared a European Woman of the Year.

The representative of the Macedonian Justice Ministry Numan Limani, the leader of the opposition SDSM Radmila Sekerinska, the President of the Economic Chamber Branko Azeski, the President of the Economic Chamber of North West Macedonia Xhemail Dauti and the representative of the NGO Polio Plus Zvonko Shavreski gave their addressed at today's press conference dedicated to the implementation of the Declaration on zero tolerance of corruption.