• Sunday, 30 June 2024

Investigation ongoing into event during Friday’s session of committee supervising the work of National Security Agency

Investigation ongoing into event during Friday’s session of committee supervising the work of National Security Agency
Skopje, 21 November 2022 (MIA) - There is still no answer as to what happened, why and who is responsible for listening to what was said at Friday’s session of the parliamentary committee supervising the work of the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Intelligence Agency, which was attended by NSA head Viktor Dimovski. Interior Ministry told MIA that the case has been reported to the Sector for Cyber Crime and that it is already being acted upon, without revealing any other information for now. The Office of the Parliament Speaker Talat Xhaferi said that the investigation is ongoing and that as soon as the Parliament receives official information from the Ministry of Interior, the public will be informed. When asked if there have already been suspensions of employees after this event, the Office says that there is no such thing, because the reasons for what happened during the session of the committee are still unknown. The committee supervising the work of NSA and the Intelligence Agency was supposed to hold a closed session on Friday to review NSA’s role in the process of issuing Macedonian citizenship to Onyshchenko, who had been charged with corruption in Ukraine and is blacklisted by the US. According to media reports, discussions at the closed session, attended by NSA head Viktor Dimovski, were streamed live on YouTube. Chairman of the committee Ljupcho Prendzov told MIA that he is still waiting to be briefed by Xhaferi about the outcome of the investigation, so that he can schedule a continuation of the session. The opposition is also waiting for Xhaferi to give information about the investigation. Ukrainian national Oleksandr Onyshchenko was awarded Macedonian citizenship as an equestrian athlete after his name was proposed by the Equestrian Federation. The government approved his Macedonian citizenship after all competent institutions has issued a positive opinion. National Security Agency head Viktor Dimovski stated on Friday that an internal probe into a possible breach in the so called Onyshchenko case concluded that the final level of the security checkup wasn’t respected and that NATO partners weren’t consulted before a positive opinion was issued. The individual who signed an approval has been identified and somebody will be held accountable, he added. A security checkup before positive opinion is issued approving Macedonian passport to be awarded to someone is done in several levels and also requires signatures from ten NSA members, he explained. The investigation, he stated, resumes until it is established whether this was an isolated case.