Court Probes Last of Ramkovski's Media Empire

The primary court in Skopje

Ramkovski’s last remaining TV station is facing the same procedure that in late July led to closure of its sister TV station, A1.

Antoaneta Dimova, a spokesperson for the Primary Court Skopje 2, told local news publication Utrinski Vensik on Friday that the session which is expected to decide the fate of the TV station, is set for 2 September.

Until then, the court has assigned state trustee Aco Petrov to do the financial scanning and report back on whether a bankruptcy needs to be pronounced for the TV station.
 
Petrov is the same trustee who recommended that A1 be pronounced bankrupt on 27 July. The court found that A1, which was seen as one of the loudest pro-opposition outlets in the country, owed €9.5 million to the tax office for unpaid taxes.

Earlier that same month, three daily newspapers also owned by Ramkovski; Vreme, Shpic and Koha e Re, were also closed because of unpaid taxes.

The sudden reduction in the number of opposition voices in Macedonia’s media has sparked concerns for media freedom in the country.

Local journalists' associations staged street protests this month against what they see as political and business pressures on their freedom.

The European Commission, the OSCE, the Freedom House and the Vienna-based South East Europe Media Organisation have also expressed concern.

In separate press releases issued this month, they asked the Macedonian government, for the sake of democracy and pluralism, to allow TV stations to repay debts in instalments rather than one lump sum.
 
The tax office rejected the proposal.

Ramkovski, who has been in detention for almost eight months, is currently on trial for an alleged large scale financial fraud, tax evasion and other crimes. He says he is being framed by the government.

The TV station A2 does not air news bulletins. The bulk of the programmes that air through cable and satellite consist of soap operas, films and talk-shows.

Local media meanwhile speculate that foreign investors are interested in taking over the TV station and are considering paying its possible debts to keep it alive.