As calls for investigation into the marijuana business grow, Zaev admits that his family owns “only one farm”

Asked by the press, Zoran Zaev admitted that one of the six dozen marijuana growing licenses is given to a relative of his – a cousin which he did not name. It is likely Trajce Zaev, who was named in connection with the massive seizure of 200 kilograms of marijuana that was being smuggled with the intention of selling it on the black market in April. Trajce Zaev’s brother and the commissioner of the Prilep police were arrested near the city while escorting the drugs that originated from a farm near Bitola that is likely secretly owned by Trajce Zaev, but the investigation stopped short of looking into the Zaev family connection.

Despite this major scandal, and other incidents linked with theft of marijuana from the farms and its smuggling in the region, Zaev insisted that he will continue to push to expand the business.

We estimate that the medical cannabis production brings in 250 million EUR or 2.5 percent of GDP. We are now looking into ways to allow the export of cannabis flowers for use in skincare and other purposes, that will bring more flexibility and new investments. Of the 61 licenses that are given, one is given to a cousin of mine. The others are foreign and domestic investors, Zaev said. Media outlets have extensively reported on the long list of Zaev cronies who were given licenses, including his lawyer, the bishop of Strumica and others.

The BIRN site, normally supportive of the Zaev regime, published a report detailing how businessmen close to Zaev are being investigated for a scheme in Serbia, where a farm owned by businessman Predrag Koluvija ostensibly grew marijuana for cannabis oil production but in reality sold it on the black market. Koluvija had investments in marijuana growing in Macedonia, in partnership with Aleksandar Pipervaliev – a businessman from Strumica close to Zaev.

One of Koluvija’s business partners at THC Quality Group, Goran Krstev, was arrested in 2008 alongside (North) Macedonia’s current prime minister, then the mayor of the southeastern town of Strumica, Zoran Zaev. The case concerned the construction of a mall in the town. Krstev, Zaev and four others were amnestied in August 2008 by the country’s then president, Branko Crvenkovski. Krstev, a native of Strumica, could not be reached for comment on this story, BIRN added.

Adding marijuana flowers to the list of allowed exports would give more liberty to Zaev’s cronies and family members to produce various sorts of cannabis and to have the drug “stolen” or misreport it as used for industrial purposes, while it is actually smuggled to the regional and European market. A recent report by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime warned that this is the real purpose of the marijuana business in Macedonia.

The opposition VMRO-DPMNE party responded to Zaev’s statement by accusing him of trying to change the law “to allow greater cannabis exports and greater profits to the farms owned by his family”.