Biljana Ivanovska, head of the Anti-Corruption Commission, annouced during a TV interview this evening that tomorrow she will initiate an investigation into several new corruption cases including two against Prime Minister Zoran Zaev.

Both are well documented cases of corruption while Zaev was Mayor of Strumica, and in both cases he escaped the legal consequences. The first is the construction of a shopping mall in Strumica named Global, over which Zaev was charged in 2008, but was promptly pardoned by then President Branko Crvenkovski. In this case, Zaev was charged that he signed a criminal deal with a company to build the shopping mall on publicly owned land and that he picked as partner a company his own companies do a lot of business with. The municipality seriously undervalued its contribution in the joint public – private projects, leaving Zaev’s handpicked partner with a significant gain. On top of it all, the municipal authorities refused to return the valuable plot of land to its rightful owners – local families who had homes and land confiscated during Communist times – and went ahead with the construction anyway.

The other case was publicly revealed in 2015, during the political crisis Zaev instigated. In it, Zaev was recorded by a local businessman interested in purchasing another piece of publicly owned land, who decided to report the Mayor to the police after Zaev sought a bribe in order to sell the land. Zaev is clearly seen as instructing the businessman to pay several hundred thousands euros in bribes and to divide the money in two parts – giving one to Zaev’s brother Vice and the other to the church – possibly a code for Zaev’s confidant and indirect business partner Bishop Naum of Strumica. “Bring it to me directly. Give one euro to Vice and one to the church”, Zaev is heard saying asking for a bribe in the amount of two euros per square meter for a property several hundred thousand meters large. Zaev was again charged with corruption, but by the time the case got to court he was entrenched in the Government and was able to push the court to give him an acquittal.

Tomorrow, during our meeting, we will open new anti-corruption cases, based on information we have received. These are the Global and “One euro for Vice” cases, said Ivanovska.