The United States banned the mayor of Karpos (a large municipality of the urban complex of Skopje) and the leader of a small party in North Macedonia from entering their territory, Stefso Jakimovskias well as the former head of the country’s Special Prosecutor’s Office, Katitsa Yaneva, due to their involvement in important corruption cases in North Macedonia.

“Their involvement in corruption cases renders Janeva, Jakimovsky and their family members inadmissible for entry into the United States,” it said in a statement. State Department.

Stefco Jakimovski is a candidate for the presidency of North Macedonia, in the presidential elections that will be held in the country on April 24. He said he was “surprised” to be included in the list of undesirable persons in the US and spoke of “interference by foreign intelligence services in the presidential election process”.

THE Katitsa Yaneva was arrested in 2019 and sentenced to seven years in prison, because during the period when he was the head of the Special Prosecutor’s Office of North Macedonia, he abused his power, blackmailing a well-known businessman in the country in order to obtain personal benefits.

For the past two years, the US has blacklisted the former prime minister of North Macedonia, Nikola Gruevskithe former head of the country’s secret services, Saso Mijalkov (a first cousin of Nikola Gruevski), the former deputy prime minister of North Macedonia, Koco Angiusev, as well as the mayor of Struga and two well-known North Macedonian businessmen, for their involvement in corruption cases.