“Racket” indictment coming soon


Yesterday around noon, the main suspect in the “Racket” case Bojan Jovanovski, who is known in the public as Boki 13, was escorted by the police to the Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime and Corruption, where he was brought in for questioning. But the prosecutor in charge of the case, Vilma Ruskovska, surprised both him and his lawyer, Sasho Dukovski, when she handed them a report informing that the investigation into the racketeering affair involving Orce Kamchev had been completed. Jovanovski was taken back to prison after spending less than an hour in the Prosecutor’s Office, and his lawyer went out and told the media that Boki 13 had not told the whole truth of the case because he had been told that the investigation had been completed, and he did not see any evidence against him.
“It is not right to be handed a notice of a completed investigation at the very moment when you have no idea what the grounds of suspicion are, what the evidence is against you. This has never happened in the history of Macedonian judiciary. On the same day, a decision was made to complete the investigation and to request that a suspect who had never been informed of the grounds for suspicion and the evidence against him be given a statement. We did not defend ourselves with silence, we will make a statement, but look at our position and the violation of the right of defense. We cannot predict the evidence against the suspect by looking at a crystal ball”, lawyer Dukovski said.
Jovanovski, five months after the investigation was opened and more than two months after he was arrested, was summoned to the Prosecutor’s Office for the first time to testify. The defense now has 15 days to inspect, ie see all the evidence the prosecution has against him, and then come up with a new term when giving a statement. The defense begins to inspect the evidence Wednesday and from there they announce that they will propose evidence as well.
Prosecutors say lawyer Dukovski did not ask to look into the evidence, unlike Katica Janeva’s lawyer, Irena Frchkoska, who has already done so.
“You cannot get the power of attorney and not call or show interest. On the other hand, they demand equality of arms and do not take any action”, the prosecution said.
“The prosecution indicates that giving evidence to a suspect is not a procedural act, which implies that a defense, that is, a statement, may also be given within the legally prescribed period when the evidence is examined,” the prosecution said in a statement.
In its statement, the prosecution said that after dedicating more than two months, it had completed the investigation into the case that triggered a political earthquake known as the “Racket”.
“After a thorough analysis of the material and verbal evidence collected, the Prosecutor General’s Office for Organized Crime and Corruption handling the case known as “Racket” has completed the investigation into the suspects. As of today, the 15-day deadline for inspecting the evidence for the main suspects and the right of the defense to present evidence in favor of the suspects has started”, the prosecution informed.
Former Special Prosecutor Katica Janeva, who is the third suspect in the “Racket” case, is due to be brought to the Prosecutor’s Office today at noon for questioning. Her lawyer Irena Frchkoska did not want to comment on whether they had been informed whether the investigation was completed, but only briefly stated that more information should be available after the questioning. Janeva was in the Prosecutor’s Office and testified over the “Racket” case as a witness, but was arrested the very next day. She is due to testify in the Prosecutor’s Office today as a suspect.
SPO sources confirm that Janeva sent another handwritten letter to the SPO last weekend and asked for money from the so-called “black fund” that they all collected because she had no money to pay for her defense. Her lawyer meet with her yesterday, but claims that they had not discussed this at all. According to unofficial calculations, Janeva was paid monthly salary of 100,000 denars, but now claims that she is not able to pay for her defense.
Janeva ended up in detention under suspicion of abuse of office, i.e. influenced in easing the position of businessman Orce Kamchev, who in turn paid Jovanovski 1.5 million euros. Suspects Bojan Jovanovski and Zoran Milevski – Kicheec have collected the money both times. The first payment of 500,000 euros was paid by Kamchev’s wife, Ana Kamcheva, while he was still in detention. The second payment, worth 1 million euros, was picked up at Kamchev’s home on February 20, packed in a Louis Vuitton bag.
The prosecution claims to have undeniable evidence that Janeva received 298,000 MKD (about 5,000 euros) in gifts and furniture from this money. MPs Frosina Remenski and Aleksandar Kiracovski, as well as President of the International Union Agapi Dika, SPO prosecutors Lile Stefanova, Burim Rustemi and Elizabeta Josifovska were all interrogated. The other part of the investigation relates to frauds in the construction of nursing homes, for which businessmen like Siljan Micevski and Ardijan Amzoski fell for and invested a lot of money – Micevski around 700,000 euros, Amzoski 200,000 euros, and others such as Zoran Azmanov and others were also victims of racketeering, but they didn’t even pay a single euro. 1TV, television station that Jovanovski informally owned and his organization received enormous support from the current government, but so far, according to official information, the evidence does not lead to politicians. This has yet to be proven.
An indictment should be filed soon after the investigation is completed, but it is not yet announced whether the prosecution has found the money.

Frosina Fakova-Serafinovic