Following media reports that some employees who were potential nominees for high-raking positions in the company were placed under secret surveillance and that their telephone conversations were tapped, Croatian prosecutors ordered the police on Monday to take necessary steps to check those allegations.
Last week, media reported that Deutsche Telekom management spied on the company's workers in its subsidiaries worldwide, including in Croatia. In Croatia, one of the victims of the spying was a manager referred to in the company's files as Maya.
After the outbreak of the scandal, the DT management talked with Croatian HT leaders and promised to do their best to shed light on the illegal activities within Deutsche Telekom.
DT also launched an official investigation.
"Regarding the allegations about the surveillance of HT employees by Deutsche Telekom, Hrvatski Telekom, as a company responsible towards its employees, customers, shareholders, and the general public, checked and found, according to information available to relevant services, that neither fixed nor mobile systems of Hrvatski Telekom were used for illegal purposes," HT said on its website.
HT CEO Ivica Mudrinic has said he is outraged, and condemned any possible surveillance in the strongest terms.
"In equally protecting the rights of all its shareholders, the Management Board of Hrvatski Telekom requires from Deutsche Telekom all information about this case and sanctions for the responsible. Moreover, if these events cause business damage to the company, the Management Board will require, without exception, compensation from those responsible," he was quoted as saying.
"If anyone from the company, either an employee or manager, is found to have participated in or to have had information about illegal actions and to have failed to inform the competent persons, the company will report them to state authorities without hesitation," Mudrinic said.