The State Commission for Prevention of Corruption (SCPC) at a meeting Thursday decided to start collecting information in relation to media reports about the procurement of vaccines produced by the Chinese company Sinopharm.

“Depending on the collected data, the body will decide whether there are enough elements for opening a case according to the SCPC’s jurisdiction,” its president Biljana Ivanovska told MIA.

According to her, other institutions, including the Public Prosecutor’s Office, should launch activities to look into the allegations, reported Radio Free Europe earlier today.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Zoran Zaev on Wednesday rejected accusations of any wrongdoing in the process of procuring COVID-19 vaccines from the Chinese manufacturer Sinopharm.

He said that the vaccine procurement was conducted through private companies and the order was made through the Chinese embassy and the Chinese Foreign Ministry after being requested by Chinese authorities.

“I completely reject any wrongdoing or illegal activities. We have been making utmost efforts to procure vaccines via all possible channels. The Health Minister said that after waiting for two weeks for activities from the Chinese embassy, we couldn’t get contacts directly, so we ordered through private companies that weren’t confirmed by the Foreign Ministry, which is why the advance payment was withdrawn. We are waiting for the shipment to arrive through the Chinese Foreign Ministry, i.e. through the Chinese embassy,” Zaev told a reporter when asked to comment on reports of the Italian newspaper La Verità about the country’s procurement of Chinese vaccines.