MACEDONIA: BUCKOVSKI CONVICTION ADDS TO PARTISAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 SKOPJE 000760 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/13/2018 TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM MK SUBJECT: MACEDONIA: BUCKOVSKI CONVICTION ADDS TO PARTISAN POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT REF: SKOPJE 747 Classified By: Amb. Reeker for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). Summary -------------- ¶1. (C) On December 9, Skopje Basic Court I sentenced former Prime Minister and Minister of Defense (and current SDSM Member of Parliament) Vlado Buckovski to 3.5 years in prison for abuse of authority in the disbursement of 2.4 million Euros by padding the budget for the purchase of spare parts for army tanks in 2001. Former Army Chief of Staff Metodi Stambolsiki also was sentenced to 3.5 years, and three other associates each received three-year sentences. SDSM's reactions to the sentence had been muted until Dec. 14, when acting party president Zaev blasted the verdict as purely political. We are not in a position to judge Buckovski's guilt or innocence in a country where corruption (or rumors of corruption) and concerns about judicial independence are both in evidence. In the case of the position of Minister of Defense, accusations and convictions appear to go beyond party lines, with four Ministers (from four different parties) since 2001 facing legal woes related to their former positions. End Summary. Initial Cautious Reactions to the Verdict, Then a Threat from SDSM -------------- ¶2. (C) Buckovski called the verdict "scandalous" and indicated that it was reached "outside this (court) building." He said that his side "won the legal battle in the courtroom," but other pressures brought the judge to a different verdict. Buckovski will appeal the decision. Since his sentence is less than five years, under Macedonian law he remains free during the appeals process. In a discussion with us just hours after the verdict, Buckovski warned, "if this can happen to a former Prime Minister, what message does it send to the ordinary citizen?" Privately, Buckovski's lawyer told the Ambassador at a December 10 reception that the judge in the case appeared sick with reluctance and read out the sentence as quickly as possible, indicating that 3.5 years was the least she could get away with imposing. (Buckovski traveled to the U.S. on an A2 visa as part of a parliamentary delegation a few days after the verdict.) ¶3. (C) Buckovski's party, SDSM (the largest opposition party),is on edge. When asked about the Buckovski sentence, former SDSM President Radmila Sekerinska told the DCM she was afraid to say anything. "This is a big problem for SDSM. If we criticize the sentence, or speak out about the enormous pressure that judges face from the government, VMRO will immediately attack us for being soft on crime and corruption," Sekerinska told us privately. SDSM's initial public line was equally cautious, as Spokesperson Emilijan Stankovic stated, "SDSM appeals once again to all competent institutions to work solely in line with the legal norms and unbiased principles in their functioning." SDSM's spokesperson indicated the party must rely on the Appellate Court's independence and said that SDSM expects the court will reach the "right verdict" on the appeal. (Comment: Fear of further criminal accusations against other party members is likely an un-expressed additional reason behind the muted responses. See reftel. End Comment.) ¶4. (SBU) This cautious approach ended Dec. 14, when acting SDSM President Zoran Zaev blasted the verdict as politically-motivated, offering a stern (and ill-advised) statement to "warn all judges who act under political pressure that the time will come when these cases will be reviewed by SDSM" when the party returns to power. Not surprisingly, Zeav's clear threat met with a harsh rebuke from Macedonia's Judicial Council, which attacked SDSM (not by name) for threatening the independence of the judiciary. Court Administrator Defends Conviction -------------- ¶5. (C) In a meeting on another topic, we asked Skopje Basic Court I President Dobrila Kacarska for her assessment of the case and whether she thought the punishment fit the crime. (Kacarska was not the presiding judge; she is the administrator of the court that convicted Buckovski, which is the main criminal court for the entire country.) Kacarska gave an impassioned defense of her court, stating that the presiding judge in the Buckovski case was honest and delivered the verdict and sentence free of political SKOPJE 00000760 002 OF 002 influence. She noted that when her court refused to order pre-trial detention for Buckovski last year, VMRO supporters claimed Skopje Basic Court I was the worst court in the land; now that Buckovski was found guilty, the opposition makes the same claim. Kacarska noted this was the first time that a former prime minister has been convicted of corruption (though Buckovski committed the alleged offense while Defense Minister),and that courts must punish corrupt judges and politicians harshly as they have violated the public trust. Who Are We to Judge? -------------- ¶6. (C) We are not in a position to judge Buckovski's guilt or innocence. Rumors constantly circulate about government ministers' or senior officials' unexplained wealth, their expensive taste in clothes, vacation homes abroad, etc., but these are hard to prove. While Buckovski was convicted of misuse of funds, it appears the prosecution was unable to present sufficient evidence to show that he actually profited personally from the incident. The implication is that he took a share of the profits from the company which provided the tank parts, but the prosecution was apparently only able to prove that the GoM was damaged financially by the purchase, not that Buckovski was personally corrupt. Minister of Defense Slot Should Come with a Guide to Prison Life -------------- ¶7. (SBU) Buckovski's sentence marks the fourth case of a former Minister of Defense being sentenced for or accused of abuse of power and misappropriation of funds. While many opposition leaders fear politically-driven criminal allegations, in the case of the MoD helm, these accusations and convictions span the parties. Earlier this year the appellate court upheld the sentence of 4.5 years for (VRMO-DPMNE) Ljuben Paunovski, Minister of Defense during the 2001 conflict, for abuse of power and misuse of funds. Last month, the State Anti-Corruption Commission recommended that the Public Prosecutor's office file criminal charges against recent Ministers of Defense (LDP) Jovan Manasievski and (NSDP) Lazar Elenovksi for abuse of the procurement process. REEKER