Out of Control A1 TV visited by Police
Thursday, 25 November 2010
A1 TV was visited this evening by a dozen policemen. Although it isn't known the true purpose of the visit, here is a list of one of the possibilities, according to our Skopje based correspondent Antonio Sazdovski who has followed the ins and outs at A1 for 15 years.
"There could be hundreds of reasons for the police being present at A1, frankly everything and anything this station and its owner have done is classified as illegal under the existing laws", says Antonio.
1. Velija Ramkovski, A1's owner apart from owning TV station is also the owner of printed dailies "Vreme" and "Spic" which is illegal under the Monopoly laws. Moreover, he is also their editor-in-chief, which he himself has said many times while replacing editors who deviated from his orders. It is nothing new in the world for every medium to have its editorial policy that reflects its relationship towards the public, the political, and the economic processes in the state. This is the case with all relevant media. However, it is completely different when the medium is in the function of daily trading and financial interests of the owner.
A1's editors and journalists have no idea what an editorial policy is because the view of the Medium changes every day depending on whether the trucks of their Owner have been allowed to cross the border or not, whether he has received a warning for not paying his taxes, whether the previous night he had promised his friends to make them heads of the Football Federation, or whether he has promised his Albanian partners a new mosque building.
2. A1's Owner owes $2 Million Dollars to the US Government, something he hasn't repaid in well over a decade. The money were a loan that was suppose to be distributed among all private TV stations. The $2 million ended up at A1. When Gordana Stosic, A1's famous editor from the 1990's suspected Velija Ramkovski is using his staiton for money laundering, she was quickly fired from her post.
3. Snezana Lupevska, another famous A1 journalist and editor refused to attack Trifun Kostovski and Hari Kostov of Komercijalna Banka because A1's Owner owed money to both of them, she also left A1. Ramkovski has publicly said he would not pay his credit back to Komercijalna Banka!
4. Velija Ramkovski owes 700,000 Euros to the know defunct Swedmilk, yet through his TV station advocated and forced the Swedmilk workers to protest in front of the Government, even though he is the one who owes money to them.
5. Velija Ramkovski's printing companies Cetis and Europe 92 owe 200,000 Euros (Court Order), yet he has no intention of ever paying this as well. Currently the Court can not (is not willing) to execute this order because the judge is under Crvenkovski's control. Therefore Ramkovski (A1) is very friendly with Crvenkovski and the SDSM.
"This list can go on forever. I didn't even bother to explain of the ethnic hatred spread by A1, this is a reality seemingly accepted by everyone. Lastly I will add that A1's owner has been producing a spice called "Tuzot" which the Health Authorities have found to be very harmful to people's health, yet no one seems to be able to put an end to this product. Recently Ramkovski has started producing a detergent using the "OHIS" logo (popular Macedonian brand) without paying any royalties for it", says Antonio.
It's a miracle Mr. Ramkovski has not been imprisoned by now. There should be nothing strange about the police presence at A1 TV, rather this was a long time coming.
Currently A1 is speaking of fascism and is asking for 'help' from all the Embassies. The TV Station also spoke of 'fascism' and 'dictatorship' when Komercijalna Banka attempted to get their money back or seize the A1 building because Ramkovski had listed it as a hipotheque.
Update: MINA was informed that the police present at A1 is in fact the Financial Police accompanied by the Taxation Agency...
MINA, Antonio Sazdovski in Skopje
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