SDSM lawmaker Fatmir Bytyqi has called on the government and the National Bank to explain the circumstances that allowed Alta Bank to enter North Macedonia’s banking market. He questioned how the bank was granted a license.
Speaking on the program “Debate on Shenja,” Bytyqi said SDSM had been raising the issue for about a year and a half. He said the case should also be examined in light of developments in Serbia and the potential political and financial influence in North Macedonia.
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“It is good that we are addressing this topic, because it is not an issue that arose last week. For almost a year and a half, we in SDSM have been trying to bring it to public attention. This is the consequence of the cause: why was Alta Bank allowed into the country? We have asked why Alta Bank and not other banks, given that it does not have a good reputation. Its owner has even been barred by the Central Bank and is on the blacklist. Now we are seeing what is happening in Serbia; he was arrested,” Bytyqi said.
He said the money “was somewhere outside the bank; it existed only on paper,” and called on the institutions to explain why the bank was allowed to operate. “We call this an influx of corrosive capital. Was Alta Bank merely a way to bring the influence of the Serbian world into Macedonia, which the European Commission has also spoken about? And was this repayment of a debt the government had incurred with their patron, Vučić?” he said.
