The Skopje court heard today from Zoranco Mitrovski, owner of the Ezimit winery, who testified how he faced racketeering and extortion from disgraced former Special Prosecutor Katica Janeva and her chief assistant Bojan Jovanovski – Boki 13. Mitrovski said that he was afraid of the all-powerful Special Prosecutor’s Office led by Janeva and could not report the extortion publicly, but as the honorary consul of Latvia to Macedonia turned to the Lativan Embassy. His statement implicated Foreign Minister Nikola Dimtirov, who has denied that he was informed about Janeva’s extortion before the scandal broke.
Mitrovski was informed that he is a potential suspect in a case initiated by Janeva by the press. He testified that, once he read the reports about him, he reached out to her office and asked what are they investigating him for, but given the following answer: “all in due time”. Unofficially, SPO staff and Janeva began to pressure and extort money from him. Boki 13 approached his lawyer Saso Boskov and was offering help to get the winery owner off the hook in exchange for two million EUR. Boki 13 did not contact Mitrovski directly, and all communication was conducted through his lawyer.
When I heard the sum of two million EUR I realized that this is no laughing matter. There was no place to go and report the case at that time. I initially had faith in Janeva and I thought that Boki 13 is abusing her name but now I believe that it was the other way around, Mitrovski said.
Following the testimony, VMRO-DPMNE Vice President Aleksandar Nikoloski called on Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov to resign. Nikoloski said that today’s testimony confirmed what was long rumored in the country – that businessmen who were appointed honorary consuls were extorted by Janeva, and reported the pressure against them to foreign countries, who in turn notified Dimitrov, but Dimitrov did nothing about it. Dimitrov kept denying that he knew about the scandal even after it was reported that a Bitola bases businessman, who is the honorary consul of Belarus, made the same report Mitrovski did.
Mitrovski went to the non-resident Latvian Ambassador to Macedonia, Albert Sarkanis, who apparently reported the case to Minister Dimitrov. Mitrovski said that he was afterwards contacted by the Macedonian Foreign Ministry. Meanwhile Dimitrov, who was an active Colored Revolution face and a strong supporter of Katica Janeva and her office, kept silent about her extortion.
I’m glad to see that the truth is coming out. Months ago I asked Dimitrov if it is true that an EU member state reacted to his Ministry about the extortion. This was strongly denied by Nikola Dimitrov, he insisted that it’s all lies. But now it is clear that Dimitrov was informed about the racketeering, but he didn’t report it to the state prosecutors. I call on the prosecutors to interrogate Dimitrov why he tried to conceal this crime, Nikoloski said during his press conference today.
Janeva was persecuting the winery owner Mitrovski through the Macedonian Bank case – the deal to have several mid level businessmen prop up the state owned Macedonian Bank, concluded nearly 20 years ago. All the businessmen who were involved in the rescue package of the bank were reportedly pressured by Janeva, including the textile mill owner Tome Glavcev from her home town of Gevgelija. Glavcev also testified today, and said that he ahd a pre-existing dispute with Janeva. Boki 13 pressured Glavcev to pay 100.000 EUR to advertise his company on Boki’s 1TV television.
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