Magyar Telekom

The alleged wrongdoing went back even further than 2011.

MakTel once dominated the mobile market in North Macedonia, operating since 2001 as a joint venture between the state and Magyar Telekom, the Hungarian subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom. Its only competitor was the far smaller Cosmote network.

The special prosecutor's office for organized crime in Montenegro on Wednesday examined two directors of the former state-owned Telekom firm in an apparent breakthrough in the unresolved Montenegrin Telekom bribery case.

The two men are suspected of stealing millions of euro during the sale of the company to Magyar Telekom.

Deutsche Telekom's spokesperson, Elpida Trizi, has told Deutsche Welle that the company's subsidiary, the majority owner of Makedonski Telekom AD, is planning to investigate Macedonian opposition claims of mass surveillance in which mobile operators were presumably involved.

The US Ambassador in Podgorica, Sue Brown, on Tuesday repeated a call for the Montenegrin government to examine evidence that the US authorities have concerning alleged bribery in the privatization of the state-owned Montenegro Telekom firm in 2005.

Ranko Krivokapic, the speaker of parliament, on Wednesday said parliament will not re-open a probe into the controversial privatization of the telecommunications company Montenegrin Telekom.

Krivokapic said parliament had already done its job by "moving the authorities to start to work on this case. Now the prosecution should do its job".

The US Commission of Security and Stock Exchange had evidence of bribery in the privatization of the telecommunications company Montenegrin Telekom, the US embassy in Podgorica said on Wednesday.

Evidence of corruption during the sale was revealed in the US when Magyar Telekom shares were listed on the American Stock Exchange.