AFP, January 18, 2001
Skopje PM demands inquiry into "Macedonian Watergate"
SKOPJE, Jan 18 (AFP) - Macedonian Prime Minister Ljubco
Georgievski demanded that parliament set up a commission on Thursday
to investigate opposition accusations of wiretapping in a scandal
that has been dubbed the "Macedonian Watergate."
The commission would investigate recent accusations that the
ruling coalition's leading party was listening in to the phone calls
of Macedonia's top officials, including some of the coalition's own
members, parliamentary deputies and journalists.
The head of the Social Democratic Alliance of Macedonia (SDSM),
Branko Crvenkovski, levelled the accusations against the Internal
Macedonian Revolutionary Organization - Democratic Party for
Macedonian National Unity (VMRO-DPMNE), at a news conference on
Wednesday.
During the conference, he provided transcripts of some
wiretapped conversations.
According to Crvenkovski, the phone conversations of more than
one hundred of the country's officials, including President Boris
Trajkovski and Finance Minister Nikola Gruevski, both from the
VMRO-DPMNE, were being wiretapped.
The VMRO-DPMNE is the dominant force in the three-party
coalition, which also includes the Liberal Party and the Democratic
Party of Albanians (DPA).
Georgievski said the government had never discussed wiretapping
and that: "We insist on clearing up and establishing what lies
behind the accusations presented to the public yesterday."
Trajkovski voiced a deep concern over the affair, describing it
Thursday as a "serious blow to the rights and freedoms of citizens
and Macedonian democracy," a statement from his office said.
He urged the authorities to undertake "prompt and decisive
measures" to clarify the scandal, and demanded "uncompromising
sanctions against its perpetrators."
Opposition members of parliament left a parliamentary session
late Thursday announcing that they will boycott the legislative
body's work until an extraordinary session over the wiretapping
scandal is held.
On Wednesday, the interior ministry categorically denied
speculation that the country's top officials had been wiretapped.
The ministry said it would try to verify the authenticity of the
material presented by the SDSM.
Some opposition leaders have demanded the resignation of
Interior Minister Dosta Dimovska, but Georgievski ruled that out.
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