Zoran Zaev testified in the Skopje court today, in the slander trial he initiated against VMRO-DPMNE Vice President Aleksandar Nikoloski. Nikoloski is being sued by the Prime Minister after he revealed the extent of Zaev’s involvement in the Racket and other major scandals. Nikoloski said that Zaev is at the top of the Racket pyramid, and that numerous businessmen were extorted by him, to the total tune of 20 million EUR.

When I heard that statement I was with my parents, my wife, my children. This caused pain, difficulty, anguish in my family. I don’t wish that on anyone. They will continue to act this way if they are not legally stopped, Zaev asked the court, as he demanded fines on the opposition for revealing details about his criminal exploits.

In the course of the Racket scandal it was proved that Zaev’s confidant Special Prosecutor Katica Janeva extorted 1.5 million EUR from businessman Jordan Kamcev. The prosecutors did not dare expand the investigation in Zaev’s direction.

During the hearing today, Zaev confessed that he has no written record of ever reporting what he knew about the scandal to the prosecutors. Zaev claims that Kamcev came to him to complain that he is being extorted by Janeva, and that he then reported the scandal to prosecutor Vilma Ruskoska. Testimonies from defendants in fact showed that Zaev warned them that Kamcev is reporting their actions and that police and prosecutors are on to them. Not only that Zaev did not have evidence of speaking to prosecutor Ruskoska about this scandal, but Ruskoska’s office also did not produce a written receipt of Zaev’s testimony.