Asked by the press about the way the investigation into the wiretapping scandal is conducted, with the prosecutors clearly avoiding to go after top officials of the ruling SDSM party, Prime Minister Zoran Zaev defended the prosecutors saying that they’ve gone after an owner of a pro-Government TV station and Special Prosecutor Katica Janeva. This claim that SDSM has been targeted by the investigation comes even as Zaev has long insisted that Janeva is not a partisan figure, but an independent prosecutor, despite her long track record of purely partisan actions.

We have a case which without a doubt stamped a seal of independence on the judiciary, and the prosecutors who act free of any pressure and are investigating high level corruption. See, we have a prosecutor in detention, we have the owner of a pro-Government media, so to say, in prison…, Zaev said in an interview.

The prosecutors initially went after Bojan Jovanovski – Boki 13, the owner of the 1TV television which was strongly supportive of Zaev and his policies, and much later interrogated and asked for the detention of Janeva. But the investigation stopped far short of investigating the roles top SDSM party officials played in the widespread extortion of millions of euros from businessmen. Two party officials and two mayors from SDSM were questioned, but nobody from the party has been charged yet, despite the allegations that SDSM was the main recipient of the extorted money and was providing political backing to the criminal group.