Former National Bank Governor Ljube Trpevski, who is indicted for breach of duty and embezzlement of over $40 million state money, defended himself six hours in the Skopje Court yesterday. Spic and Vreme report that Trpevski disclosed incriminating documents on all governments of independent Macedonia. Utrinski Vesnik writes that Trpevski threatened to use silence as his defense if this trial is closed to the public. "I know that the things that I will say will damage Macedonia's reputation, but I must say this because I have been driven into a corner," he said.

Trpevski said that the manner in which the debt to the London Club was redeemed had been implemented since the early 1990s, adding that all Macedonian governments, without exception, worked in accordance with this principle. "Neither Ljubco Georgievski nor I invented Smilenski. This practice of redeeming debts with foreign exchange reserves has existed since Branko Crvenkovski's government," Trpevski said, Vreme reports.