Former Macedonian PM sentenced to two years in prison

AFP/Robert Atanasovski

Former Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski was sentenced to two years in prison on Wednesday for his role in an affair titled “Mercedes,” Skopje media reported.

Gruevski was charged with an illegal doing in the purchase of a hard car worth almost 600,000 Euros.

The Special Prosecutor’s Office indicted Gruevski and the then Interior Minister Gordana Jankulovska for an unauthorised phone tapping during the affair.

The car was purchased in 2012, but it took three years for the public to find out.

It happened when the then opposition published the tapped phone conversation between Gruevski and Jankulovska in which he asked that her Ministry buy an S 600 Mercedes for his use, but to keep it out of public eye.

The indictment says that Gruevski has asked Jankulovska to name a person for brokering the purchase and favouring the “Mak Autostar LLC” company.

Gruevski’s sentence came during a visit of the Macedonian Parliament SpeakerTalat Xhaferi to Belgrade.

Xhaferi was a Gruevski’s coalition partner, but switched sides and supported his bitter opponent, the current Prime Minister Zoran Zaev.