The second racketeering trial against showman Bojan Jovanovski – Boki 13 is set to begin today, but it is doubtful that the court will press forward with it, given the sensitive political moment.
Boki 13 was sentenced to nine years in prison in the Racket scandal, and during the sentencing exclaimed that the millions he and Special Prosecutor Katica Janeva extorted could be found with Zoran Zaev and his brother Vice Zaev. The judge moved quickly to order the guards to silence Boki, and the ruling party fears that he will continue to expose the true background of the scandal during his new trial. Given how protective prosecutors and judges have been toward Zaev, it is likely that the trial will be cut short and postponed for after the elections.
Also accused is Frosina Remenski, the only high level SDSM official to be charged for the numerous racketeering allegations aimed at the party. In the past she also announced her willingness to talk, including pointing her finger directly at deputy party leader Radmila Sekerinska.
In this second trial, Boki 13, his father, Remenski, and one of Boki’s associates are charged with extorting a little over a million EUR from two real-estate developers using a bogus charity group. The group took the money under an implausible “intellectual services” contract but was in reality promising to provide them with publicly owned real-estate and public subsidies to build humanitarian retirement homes, which would then be turned into lucrative, privately owned villas.
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