Zoran Zaev is known for playing fast and loose with the truth and his Kanal 5 debate with opposition leader Hristijan Mickoski was no exception. Fact-checkers were kept busy throughout the debate, and even Mickoski joined in, when during one of the breaks he himself checked one of Zaev’s claims. Zaev insisted that the father of his adviser Bojan Maricic has retired from the state prosecutor’s office, while Mickoski insisted that he is still there, taking part in the politically driven persecution of opposition officials, after the break, Zaev was forced to acknowledge that Maricic’s father is indeed still an active high level prosecutor.

Other lies Zaev said included his claim that he was the person who reported the Racket scandal to the prosecutors, when Jordan Orce Kamcev, one of the businessmen who faced extortion from Zaev’s allies Katica Janeva and Bojan Jovanovski – Boki 13, came to Zaev to inform him about what is going on. It’s a frequent claim made by Zaev, that he was not part of the extortion gang, but reported it to the prosecutors. Mickoski responded by asking Zaev if there is a written report of his meeting with the state prosecutors. Zaev feigned that he doesn’t remember whether he signed anything, a final confirmation that there is no such report, and that the entire story is likely fabricated. It is far more likely, as confirmed by Maricic during one of his own TV appearances, that Zaev actually tipped off the Racket gang that Kamcev is going to the police and is about to have them charged.

Also in the realm of the judiciary, Zaev claimed that he has no idea where did the money extorted by the Racket group. Prosecutors loyal to Zaev are visibly unwilling to investigate this issue and Zaev was evasive about the final destination of the millions of euros that were extorted. Mickoski responded to this by giving a Louis Vuitton wallet to the SDSM party leader, a clear sign that he considers Zaev the main beneficiary of the extortion racket.

When pressured on the issue, Zaev insisted that he never pressured the former Justice Minister Blerim Bexheti to ge the DUI representaives in the Judicial Council to help him remove judges who would not toe Zaev’s line. Bexheti himself publicly accused Zaev of pressuring him to secure the votes needed to remove Supreme Court Chief Justice Jovo Vangelovski, who was eventually fired. A recently leaked audio tape reveals that Zaev also had a working relationship with Vangelovski, and was able to pressure him to end a number of investigations, depending on Zaev’s changing political and business interests.

Even by Zaev’s standards, his claim that he built 700 kilometers of roads in the past three years is really out there. In reality, there are two kilometers of highway that are about to be built as a result of his actions toward the Kosovo border, and some 200 kilometers of local and regional roads have been repaved. These are already existing roads, not newly built as Zaev claimed.
Another infrastructure investment Zaev claimed to his credit is the by now famous sewage line in Aracinovo, which he said was worth 250.000 EUR, prompting amused laughter from Mickoski.
Zaev claimed that there were 60.000 new job openings under his term, but avoided the fact that 40.000 of them are in the public administration. He claimed that he reduced the budge, although it is expanding to record levels and approaches 4 billion EUR.

Mickoski pushed Zaev on his promise to bring 14 factories to the Sacevo industrial zone near his base of Strumica. Zaev claimed that four factories are operating there or are being built, but couldn’t name them.