Serbian President: Foreign Factor also Involved in Wiretapping

Aleksandar Vucic

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has said that "there is no doubt that a part of the foreign factor is involved" in his wiretapping, adding that he did not blame the foreigners "when it was primarily our people who concocted" the whole affair.

"It has leaked to me, because there were honorable police officers who brought it to me," Vucic told the Jan. 6 issue of daily Vecernje Novosti. He said that he had been handed discs containing recordings of his wiretapped conversations.

Vucic said that some people with whom he usually talked about soccer "have been marked as linked to drugs, so that they could be wiretapped" and added that those conversations had been wiretapped. 

"Those people, of course, have nothing to do with drugs, nor is there an indictment for them. Those who took part in this job used this method to allegedly cover themselves legally, but they committed serious fouls. There is evidence for that now...," said Vucic.

When asked about speculation that the affair involved people from the very top of the government, he replied that everything would be revealed. "Let state bodies investigate that. Laws must be respected and I am confident that all who are involved will have to answer for it," said Vucic.