Judge Gjoko Ristov’s mother testifies she hid €350,000 since 1975

At the Criminal Court today, Donka Ristov — the mother of appellate judge Gjoko Ristov — gave testimony in the trial over €350,000 that were discovered during a search of her parents' home.

Ristov told the court that the money had been kept for decades, hidden behind a workbench and a refrigerator. She said police did not find the cash on the first day of the search, but the funds were uncovered during a repeated search the next day.

How she described the hiding place

According to her testimony, the stash had been accumulated since 1975. She described opening a tile and using a small cavity as a hiding place where she stored any spare coins or notes.

She told the court: "I found a convenient place there, not recently, not last year, but from 1975. Whenever I had a coin left, I would open one tile, like a little window, and in foil I would put the coins, whatever I had, as much as I had."

The mother said the total amounted to €350,000: €250,000 in €50 notes and the remaining €100,000 in €500 and €100 notes. She insisted the savings belonged to her and her husband and that nobody else knew about them.

"No one knew, it was mine and my husband's personal money," she said, and explained that the cash came from selling agricultural produce; after sales she would buy foreign currency and hide it in the house.

On the method of concealment she told the court: "I didn't count them; I would shove them into the hole in the bricks. When it became tight, into another."

Photo: press material from the event