Macedonia Secret Police Chief To Sue Over Bribe Claims

 Macedonian secret police chief, Saso Mijalkov | Photo by: mvr.gov.mk

Macedonian secret police chief Saso Mijalkov on Wednesday said he intended to sue opposition Social Democrat leader Zoran Zaev over claims that he sought bribes from the Israelis to fast-track a procurement.

Zaev on Wednesday presented tapes of telephone conversations in which he said Mijalkov could be heard seeking a cut to speed the purchase from Israel of surveillance equipment costing 14 million euro.

Zaev accused Mijalkov of wanting half-a-million euro from the Israelis just to start negotiating the procurement.

The money "was a donation from our partner services for the Interior Ministry. We bought equipment for the special police with this money," Mijalkov said on Wednesday, adding that he will present evidence for his claim in court, as all documents regarding the donation have been marked as classified.

The bribe claim surfaced at the opposition's 15th press conference on the subject of government wiretapping in Macedonia, when the opposition released more tapes, on this occasion featuring the voices of Mijalkov and a former associate, now a court judge, Svetlana Kostova, seemingly negotiating the bribe with an Israeli Defence Ministry official named as Haim Hakeyny.

Kostova apparently appears in the conversations as an intermediary between Mijalkov and the Israeli official, discussing the terms and the bank to which the money should be transferred.

"Just to start negotiating the procurement from Israel, Saso Mijalkov asked the Israeli Haim Hakeyny for an incredible half-a million euro... He discusses the sums plainly, not in code," Zaev told the press conference, adding that conversations show he was insisting on getting all the money, down to the last cent.

Another tape, the opposition said,...

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