Telecom Firm Insists it is Helping Macedonia Wiretap Probe

As Macedonia's Special Prosecution, SJO, struggles to trawl the servers of Macedonian Telecom/Makedonski Telekom in search of evidence of unlawful wiretapping, Deutsche Telecom - its parent company - told Deutsche Welle in Bonn that allegations of non-cooperation with the search are untrue.

"Makedonski Telekom is fully cooperating with law-enforcement agencies to support the investigation. Of course, we encourage this, and are in contact with our local colleagues," DT said on Thursday.

Opposition claims that the authorities in Macedonia conducted the illegal wiretapping of about 20,00 people remain the focus of a long-running political crisis.

At the November 18 launch of a new investigation into the affair, codenamed "Target", the SJO said it suspected at least 10 current or former senior secret police staffers ran the illegal operation.

The SJO said it had evidence that at least 5,827 telephone numbers were illegally tapped between 2008 and 2015, but cautioned that this figure was based only on information from one of the two telecom providers in Macedonia.

The prosecution on Thursday said the Skopje Criminal Court - frequently accused of doing the government's will - had rejected a request to issue a court order to allow it to search the IT equipment of the second provider, citing insufficient details submitted in the request.
 
The SJO said it had asked the unnamed provider to give it additional details about its equipment, so it could note them in its next search warrant request.

Although the SJO did not name the company, a press release issued the same day by Macedonian Telecom, insisting it was fully cooperating with the SJO, pointed a finger.

Macedonian Telecom is by far the larger of...