Boki 13 charged with racketeering and taking 1.5 million euros


Bojan Jovanovski – Boki 13 and businessman Zoran Mileski (Zoki Kicheec) were arrested today on allegations of racketeering. According to the allegations, Jovanovski helped a high profile suspect in a criminal investigation to receive lenient treatment, and received 1.5 million EUR in exchange. Chief Public Prosecutor Ljubomir Joveski and Organized Crime Prosecutor Vilma Ruskoska held a press conference to detail the arrest.

The extensive investigation was started last May, and a number of witnesses were interrogated. Between November 2018 and April this year, the main suspect influenced a state prosecutor to demand leniency against a suspect which was charged in a different case. The suspects then received 1.5 million EUR in bribes from the person they were helping. They agreed with this person that they will be paid additional five million EUR as a reward, but after suspecting that the meetings have been compromised, they ended their meetings, said Prosecutor Ruskoska.

Journalist Branko Geroski claims that the arrest of Bojan Jovanovski-Boki 13 and the resignation by by Special Prosecutor Katica Janeva are probably linked. Boki 13 was arrested after a series of articles in which Geroski detailed corruption and racketeering which high ranking SDSM party officials were perpetrating with Boki 13’s help and using the wiretaps that were entrusted to Janeva.

These arrests are the first decisive and harsh blow against this racketeering using wiretaps in Macedonia. I still expect to see the full details about the investigation, but I suspect this is waht prompted Special Prosecutor Janeva’s resignation. I’ve been fighting this evil for weeks and I was exposed to a number of insults and attacks. I call on the victims of the racketeering to speak up and help the prosecutors document the case, said journalist Geroski.

Jovanovski’s arrest was quickly followed by the resignation of Special Prosecutor Katica Janeva. Boki’s 1TV station was seen as loudly supportive of Janeva and Janeva’s son Lazar Janev works for 1TV. Joveski refused to comment on Janeva’s resignation, as even as the journalist who pushed the story about Boki 13’s alleged racketeering claimed that the two events are linked.
“We call on all others who have been exposed to such pressure to step forward”, said Ruskoska.