North Macedonia's police say they have arrested a senior government official suspected of receiving a bribe of nearly 38,000 euros ($43,000) to favor a company.

Police said Monday that a state secretary and former head of department in North Macedonia's Ministry of Information, identified only by his initials J.J., was suspected of unlawfully granting 1.2 million euros to a company in 2014-2016 from a fund for European Union candidate countries.

Another civil servant is being sought in the crime.

North Macedonia hopes to start accession talks with the EU this fall at the latest and one of the main condition is for it to tackle high level corruption.