Police did not monitor State Prosecutor Mladen Bajic but his contacts with four journalists and the editor in chief of Jutarnji List daily, Mladen Plese, were indirectly monitored and Plese was under surveillance, Interior Minister Ranko Ostojic said on Friday, reporting the findings of an Internal Affairs investigation.
He told reporters that the order for the police operation, which was under way last year because of leaks from an investigation into the Fimi Media corruption case, came from the then police director Oliver Grbic. The operation codenamed Judas was coordinated by Grbic's deputy Milijan Brkic.
Ostojic said he did not know if his predecessor, the then Interior Minister Tomislav Karamarko, knew about the operation.
The Internal Affairs probe showed that an attempt was made to destroy a document from the operation, but it was recovered and it was revealed to contain the same information that had been stated in public by former Prime Minister Ivo Sanader. The information referred to the number of direct phone calls between Bajic and Vecernji List journalist Ivanka Toma.
As part of Operation Judas, also monitored were Bajic's phone conversations with Jutarnji List journalists Vanja Nezirovic and Dusko Miljus, and with Vecernji List journalist Josip Bohutinski.
The media mentioned that as part of the operation, the contacts of three other Vecernji List were also monitored - Ivana Jakelic, Marina Borovac and Marijana Zrinski - but the Internal Affairs probe did not reveal if the mobile numbers in the phone records were theirs.
Ostojic said an investigation would be launched in agreement with the State Prosecutor's Office to establish the responsibility of everyone involved in Operation Judas.
