The Plots on Vodno case is a high-profile corruption and money laundering affair in North Macedonia, centring around former prime minister Nikola Gruevski and his associates. The case involves the illegal acquisition of land on Mount Vodno, Skopje, using misappropriated funds originally intended for political party financing

The investigation began in October 2020, led by the basic public prosecutor’s office for prosecuting organised crime and corruption. Prosecutors alleged that, between 2006 and 2012, Gruevski illegally obtained €1.3 million from VMRO-DPMNE party donations to purchase attractive location plots in Vodno. The indictment was formally filed in May 2021 with Gruevski charged along with several associates, including Sasho Mijalkov (former intelligence chief and Gruevski’s cousin), Jordan "Orce" Kamchev (businessman), Risto Novacevski (Gruevski’s best man), Nenad Josifovikj (businessman) and Ratka Kunovska-Kamcheva (Kamchev’s mother). The prosecution argued that these individuals played key roles in facilitating the transactions and concealing the real ownership of the land.

the trial commenced in July 2021 at the Basic Criminal Court in Skopje, presided over by Judge Ilija Trpkov and prosecuted by Lile Stefanova. Evidence presented during the trial demonstrated how Gruevski, with the help of then head of the secret police, Mijalkov and Nenad Josifovikj, used a Belize-based offshore company to establish a domestic firm, through which the plots of land were purchased. The court heard testimonies detailing how the funds were funnelled through multiple accounts to obscure their origins. During the legal proceedings, the court-imposed detention measures on some of the accused, including Sasho Mijalkov, who was briefly held in custody in December 2021 before his detention order was revoked by the court of appeal.

In April 2022, the basic criminal court in Skopje delivered its first-instance verdict. Nikola Gruevski was sentenced to seven years in prison for money laundering and illegal acquisition of property. Jordan Kamchev received a one-year prison sentence for his role in facilitating transactions. Risto Novacevski received five-year suspended sentence and Nenad Josifovikj a two-year suspended prison sentence, while Sasho Mijalkov was initially sentenced to one year and three months in prison, but his sentence was later overturned by the court of appeal. Ratka Kunovska-Kamcheva had her charges dropped due to the statute of limitations. Following an appeal, in March 2023, the court of appeal increased Gruevski’s sentence to nine years and upheld the confiscation of assets, including the Vodno land parcels. In December 2023, the supreme court of North Macedonia rejected Gruevski’s request for an extraordinary review, making the verdict final.

Although convicted in multiple cases, Nikola Gruevski never served his prison sentence. In November 2018, before the legal proceedings in this case had started, Gruevski fled North Macedonia and sought asylum in Hungary. He was aided by Hungarian diplomatic channels, reportedly travelling through Albania, Montenegro and Serbia before reaching Budapest according to the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP). The Hungarian government granted him asylum, allowing him to evade imprisonment. Since his departure, Macedonian authorities have issued multiple international arrest warrants, but Hungary has refused to extradite him.

As part of the court ruling, state authorities moved to confiscate properties valued at €1.9 million, including plots on Vodno linked to Gruevski. However, the execution of these measures remains slow. The case had significant political and legal implications, reinforcing public distrust in state institutions and highlighting the ongoing struggle against high-level corruption in North Macedonia. It also affected North Macedonia’s EU accession process, as the European Commission emphasised the importance of judicial independence and anti-corruption efforts. The Plots on Vodno case remains one of the most consequential corruption scandals in North Macedonia’s recent history, underscoring the challenges in enforcing legal accountability at the highest levels of government.