After 6 months of sessions, the ruling in the Racket trial was announced this morning. The former Special Prosecutor Katica Janeva, accused of abuse of office was sentenced to seven years in prison, while Bojan Jovanovski – Boki 13, who was accused of taking bribes and money laundering, got to nine years in prison.
This is a first-degree sentence i.e. it still isn’t effective. The ruling was announced by the Basic Criminal Court – Skopje’s Judicial Council, led by Judge Vaska Nikolovska -Masevska. The accused have the right to appeal at the Appellate Court in Skopje.
Jovanovski will have some of his property confiscated, starting with the branded clothing that was seized by Prosecutor Vilma Ruskovska during the investigation, including art paintings by Lichenovski, Martinovski, Kodzoman and other painters. Among other items that should be confiscated is his furniture and other items purchased with the money from the racket, said Judge Vaska Nikolovska – Masevska. Also, the 12.000 EUR that were found in the investigation will also be confiscated.
Janeva, whom the judge told she has ruined the trust of the whole nation in the country’s legal system, will have 50.000 EUR confiscated and if she doesn’t have any assets on her bank account, all personal objects and immovables will be confiscated to match the amount of the felony.
During the verdict’s announcement that took place in the Grand hall of the Supreme Court, due to the expected numerous presence of journalist teams, Prosecutor Ruskovska demanded an extension of the detention for both accused until the verdicts become effective.
“Taking into account that the accused received a high sentence, and another investigation for another felony is taking place, I will ask for annullment of Janeva’s home detention and and ask detention for her in the prison in Shutka” said Ruskovska.
Ruskovska also said she will appeal the ruling, since she expected Janeva to be sentenced from 7 to 8 years in prison while she didn’t expect Jovanovski to a sentence lesser than 10 years in prison.
Katica Janeva and Bojan Jovanovski were found guilty in the Racket case. According to the charges, Janeva has mitigated the procedure and the detention measure for businessman Orce Kamchev in the Empire case. Zoran Milevski-Kicheec was arranging the meetings, while Boki 13 influenced Janeva. The amount they managed to gain was 1.5 million EUR.
During the first hearing, Zoran Milevski Kicheec pleaded guilty and the next day (4th of December 2019) was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment.
When the ruling was announced, only the firstly accused – Bojan Jovanovski – Boki 13 was in attendance, while Katica Janeva was absent, due to health reasons.
