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
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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
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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
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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

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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?
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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
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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