A1 and the SDSM are in hot water after the Anticorruption commission stated in a press conference it will press charges against both the TV station and the SDSM party for as they stated "A1 donated 6.9 million euros to the SDSM during the election campaign, 1.5 million more than allowed by law".
During the election campaign A1 advertised SDSM commercials totaling 13 hours, 53 minutes and 35 seconds. This means the SDSM owes A1 TV 430.239.855 denars, or nearly 7 million euros. A1 has so far received only 6.531,300 denars, or 106,000 euros.
Things get cloudy as A1 in its financial report to the anti corruption commission has stated the SDSM does not owe any money to the station. In other words A1 TV has donated 6.8 million euros to the SDSM.
According to Macedonian laws, a company can donate a maximum of 5% from its reported profit to a political party. Based on this, A1 would be allowed to donate 5.3 million euros to the SDSM, which means the SDSM illegally received 1.5 million euros.
The anticorruption commission is also suspicious and is investigating the fact that the SDSM was financing its campaign with a credit obtained by Komercijalna Banka. The commission will also review under which circumstances the credit was obtained, whether the bank broke laws in issuing the credit.
The Anticorruption commision is said to be reviewing the ruling VMRO-DPMNE as well as DUI, LDP, DPA... to make sure everyone followed the laws during the election campaign.
