Zirojević: I never told Šćepanović to be careful, I will file criminal complaints if our conversations were illegally wiretapped
Member of Parliament representing the European Alliance, Nikola Zirojević, has denied claims made by the Democrats party and Minister of Defence Dragan Krapović that he warned Police Administration Director Lazar Šćepanović about an alleged threat to his safety, insisting that his words have been deliberately misinterpreted. At the same time, he announced that he would file criminal complaints if it turns out that his conversations with the Police Director were unlawfully intercepted.
- After the lie factory operated by the organized crime megaphones embodied by Democratic Montenegro and Dragan Krapović was completely dismantled yesterday, they are now proving the old saying that a mother does not curse her son for gambling, but for trying to wriggle out of the consequences. By continuing to spread false information, these crime megaphones are unsuccessfully trying to pull themselves out of the mud they willingly dragged themselves into - Zirojević said in a public statement.
He admitted that when Krapović first raised the issue, he was momentarily taken aback, mentally reviewing every instance of „direct communication“ he had ever had with the Police Director.
- To make things clear for the public, „direct communication“ in this case refers to phone conversations and text messages. I have never hidden the fact that such communication took place, and more often than not it was initiated by the Police Director himself. After the tragicomic TV programme „Reflektor“, for example, I spent almost an hour and a half explaining to him why the behaviour he displayed there was unbecoming of the head of the police, and how it had undermined the reputation of the institution he represents. It took him quite some time to understand what I was trying to tell him, but in the end he thanked me for what he described as „brotherly advice“. On another occasion, he contacted me regarding the Miss Montenegro pageant, which I had attended, because he wanted to know whether the contestant he had been rooting for had won – Zirojević highlighted.
According to Zirojević, the truth regarding the question repeatedly raised by what he calls the „crime megaphones“ is that he never, in any form of communication, suggested to the Police Director that he should be careful.
- Had I ever possessed any information indicating that his safety was under threat, as a member of the Parliamentary Security Committee, as an MP, and above all as a citizen and a human being, I would have immediately forwarded such information to the competent authorities. I would also have informed both the Police Director and any other public official without delay. Unlike the crime megaphones, who place targets on opposition MPs every day, I consider human life to be more important than any political or other interest – Zirojević said.
He also confirmed that he had spoken with Šćepanović about the Maybach vehicle assigned to him, stressing that the conversation was initiated by the Police Director.
- After I asked the Minister of the Interior during a parliamentary debate, from my seat, „Who has been assigned the Maybach, and wasn't it supposed to be sold?“, the Police Director called me to discuss the matter. Since the conversation took place several months ago, I cannot quote it verbatim, but I can paraphrase it fairly accurately because my memory still serves me well. The Director asked whether it was really possible that I was questioning his use of the vehicle, implying that his security situation justified it. I reminded him that I had actually been the one who, in Parliament, in front of both him and the Minister, suggested that if the security situation was indeed as serious as he had described, then his family should also receive additional protection. That alone disproves any suggestion that I wish him harm. I then explained that my concern was not with the level of his personal protection, but with the fact that six years ago the Montenegrin public had been promised that the two Maybach vehicles would be sold, whereas in 2026 they are still being used by government officials. I therefore asked a perfectly legitimate political question as to why this was the case. I also asked why he had replaced the previously assigned armoured vehicle with this far more luxurious and considerably more expensive one. For obvious reasons, I cannot disclose his response – Zirojević explained.
Zirojević went on to say that the remainder of the conversation took on a more humorous and personal tone than an official one. He noted that the public had repeatedly witnessed the Police Director expressing a certain level of political sympathy toward him, recalling that during one parliamentary session even Interior Minister Danilo Šaranović remarked, as Zirojević was about to take the floor: „Here comes the Police Director's favourite MP“.
- In that joking spirit, I told the Director that a Maybach is not meant for driving around Kličevo or going to the gym, but that it is a special-purpose vehicle of considerable weight. I jokingly remarked that by using it in that way they had already worn out the tyres and burned through the brake pads, and that servicing a Maybach is extremely expensive. These remarks had absolutely nothing to do with any operational information I possessed regarding the vehicle. Out of respect for the public, I cannot quote the Director's response, but I can say that it contained a colourful description involving pain in a certain part of the male anatomy. That is the full truth behind yet another fabricated story that the Democrats' crime megaphones are trying to promote – Zirojević said.
He added that it was particularly interesting that the Minister of Defence appeared to possess information about a private telephone conversation between the Police Director and the Deputy Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on Security and Defence.
- The first possibility is that the services controlled by these crime megaphones have been wiretapping me, obtained information about what the Police Director and I discussed, and then embellished it with additional falsehoods in an attempt to give the conversation a criminal dimension. If that is the case, it constitutes illegal surveillance, and I will file criminal complaints against those responsible within these institutions. The second possibility, which I sincerely hope is not true, is that the Director of the Police Administration, who presents himself as independent and politically neutral, has been sharing and recounting his conversations with Members of Parliament and members of the Security Committee to ministers from the Democrats – Zirojević said.
According to Zirojević, the remaining question is whether the actual content of the conversation was distorted by Šćepanović himself in order to reinforce claims that his own safety was under threat, or whether this fabrication originated from what he calls the „Democrats' lie factory“.
- The more time passes, the more it seems to me that there is a large equals sign between those two possibilities. All that remains for me to say is this: if the Police Director behaves so submissively that he recounts conversations with anyone to government ministers while falsely interpreting them, then Montenegro does not have a professional at the head of its police force. Instead, it has nothing more than a gossip who is guided neither by professional standards, nor by the law, nor by justice, but by politics. Finally, I have one question for the author of the Democrats' „brilliant“ statement. Even if every single word of the crime megaphone's lie factory statement were true, which it is not, how can you be so absurd as to ask whether I reported this information to the police or the prosecution when the very conversation in question was conducted with the head of the police himself – Zirojević concluded.