Zaev listened to the recordings, said he was “clean”

At yesterday’s hearing on the “Bribe” case, in which Prime Minister Zoran Zaev was charged, without the presence of the public, the conversations provided with the PI measures were read and the SMS messages were read. After the hearing, Zaev said that neither in the talks, nor in the SMS messages there were any signs of bribery.

“There is absolutely nothing connected with the attempts to be a suspect, as a person who took a bribe, or attempted to take a bribe. In all these conversations, we were talking with officials from the municipality of Strumica, as well as with Ivan Nikolov in order to speed up the procedures, how the procedures were going, with the ultimate aim of accomplishing the work that the client had before the municipality, Zaev said. He said that he knew the content of the conversations, and that everything was completely clean.

– Everything is completely clean. I know how those conversations went. When you have not even thought of anything illegal, those conversations cannot be about anything else, added the prime minister. Precisely in all proceedings and in all telephone conversations, he said, the main issue is only about completing the cases.

– Proof of this is that certain issues have already been completed, and during that period no one asked for money, or anything else, which confirms itself that this is a framed process, Zaev said.

Zaev’s lawyers said that the Appellate Court has not yet ruled on the Prosecution’s appeal, and it is unclear whether the public will be able to listen and see the full footage, whose parts have already been published on Youtube, and is evidence in this procedure. The next hearing on the “Bribe” case is scheduled for April 30. Zoran Zaev is accused of demanding a bribe of about 160,000 euros from businessman Sacevaliev for legalization of construction land, while he was serving as the mayor of Strumica.