Prime Minister Zoran Zaev officially confirmed that he was informed about the second major racketeering scandal to befall his Government. Zaev held a joint press conference with two of his top healthcare officials, Minister Venko Filipce and FZO fund director Den Doncev, and insisted that it was normal that they warned a Swedish company not to invest in a Macedonian dialysis provider.

The owner of the Macedonian company Diamed, Vera Ivanova, claims that Doncev and Filipce were extorting money from her, trying to scupper the sale of her company to the Swedish Diaverum, and when this failed – they demanded half of the 11.5 million EUR sale.

We know when the state prosecutors are conducting an investigation and it is normal, logical and honest to inform every investor, including Diaverum from Swedin, who is a notable investor, so they will known all the information and the state will provide them with information so we can build crediility, rating and power in drawing in new investment. What we knew we shared exceptionally honestly and timely as an information. They had their legal experts, analyzed the situation and we told them good luck with that, but the ivnestigation is not closed and there will e consequences until it is closed. It is up to the judiciary, Zaev said during today’s press conference.
Diamed is an important regional dialysis provider and Ivanova says that the volume of work they do caught the eye of Zaev’s top healthcare officials, who tried to get her to sell the company to another firm, linked to them, while also using a suspected mobster Zoran Mileski – Zoki Kicheec to extort money from her. As she persisted in selling Diamed to Diaverum, Ivanova says that the Government conjured a criminal investigation to try to sink the deal and to freeze the proceeds from the sale – after she refused to share them with Government officials.

Zaev today insisted that the prosecutors from the OJO unit, which is led by his loyalists, will continue their investigation. When asked by the press, Zaev confirmed that he was meeting with Mileski on various business deals.

He would come to the Government, I have said that before. He would frequently come with a company which wanted to work in mining, to invest huge millions of euros in the country and we always conducted these talks transparently, Zaev said.

Mileski is the bagman in the Katica Janeva racketeering scandal, in which he is the third co-defendant and was filmed carrying a bag of money extorted from businessman Jordan Orce Kamcev and likely meant for Janeva and/or involved Government officials. Mileski’s involvement linked both scandals and underscored allegations that the Zaev Government was heavily involved in extorting money from businesses.

VMRO-DPMNE responded to Zaev’s press conference and its overall threatening tone by saying that Zaev is clearly taking Doncev and Filipce under his wing and will defend them from scrutiny in the scandal.

Zoran Zaev today revealed that he is receiving prior information about who will be investigated by the state prosecutors, a year in advance. He knows who will be charged, who is the target, and is clearly colluding the executing with the judiciary branch. The criminal octopus at the top of the Government revealed it has no intention to fight crime – on the contrary, Zaev stands by Doncev and Filipce and is giving them his clear support while a criminal investigation against them is on-going. This is a message to the prosecutors that the allegations against the two need to be covered up, said VMRO-DPMNE spokesman Naum Stoilkovski.

Journalist Branko Geroski, who did much of the early reporting in both racketeering scandals, also responded to the Zaev press conference.

What have we learnt today? That the Government is being tippod off by the OJO state prosecutors about on-going investigations, and the Government was then disclosing this information to a third party. No law allows this! On the contrary, this is strictly forbidden by law, Geroski said.