Minister denies police or security agency wiretapped Pajtic

Minister denies police or security agency wiretapped Pajtic

"No order was ever given to wiretap. And the paper itself that was published does not look anything like documentation from the MUP or the BIA," said Stefanovic.

The minister also announced that everything will be investigated, and that Teleprompter editor Danilo Redzepovic will be asked by the police to explain how he obtained the transcript.

Earlier in the day DS leader and head of the Vojvodina provincial government Bojan Pajtic confirmed the authenticity of the transcript and said it was proof he was being wiretapped, and a reason for the government to collapse.

Stefanovic said that the police have already received an order from the Prosecutor's Office to carry out an investigation, and repeatedly described Redzepovic as "a close friend of Pajtic."

"Although we have never wiretapped Pajtic, we saw bags of documents on intercepted communications of Aleksandar Vucic, especially in the period from 2008 to 2012. I expect you will see in the coming days what it looks like. Vucic did not want to talk about it, but it was a brutal violation of all his rights. The (former) DS regime followed and listened in on the private conversations of their political opponent," said Stefanovic.

The minister added that "everything will be checked and will not just go away."

"We'll examine everything, who made it up and how," said Stefanovic, who is also a senior official of the ruling SNS.

According to him, it is clear that the case is about "an extensive campaign to bring down Aleksandar Vucic."

"They cannot beat him when it comes to dedication, work, they cannot find a single bad thing about him," said Stefanovic, pointing out that Serbian prime minister "is not interested in money even as a concept."

As he said, this case is connected with the case of the entry of the police into the premises of the DS, and the police minister also stated that he feared for the life of the prime minister.

"All of this is to create a political climate that should say there is something terrible happening here. So I told Vucic to call elections as soon as possible, with fear and trepidation about whether he would see those elections. I fear, such a horrible atmosphere is being created about Vucic being to blame for everything even though he's never done anything wrong. And since they cannot find anything bad, because they surely would have arrested him since 2008 or declared him a villain, they're talking about this now. We had such cases when an atmosphere was created and politicians subjected to lynching," he said.

Stefanovic said that it was dangerous that "a panic about somebody being eavesdropped is created in society."

"And that's complicated. The police must send an indication to the prosecutor's office, then examines whether it is justified and sends a request to the court to authorize wiretaps," said Stefanovic.

Stefanovic said that "Kristijan Golubovic will also be asked to provide explanations for saying during a reality show that "he was given an order to kill somebody."