Speaker Xhaferi: Classified documents cannot be possessed without security certificate

Classified documents received from any organ, cannot be possessed without security certificate, reviewed at a public session and before persons that do not have such certificate, reads Parliament Speaker’s Office press statement Thursday in regard to disobeying the Law on Classified Information by the Chairman of Parliamentary Foreign Policy Committee.

“Chairman of Parliamentary Foreign Policy Committee has no security certificate for more than a year, although he was reminded by professional service in the Parliament that the validity of previous security certificate has expired,” reads the press statement.

In accordance with the Law on Classified Information, lawmaker and Chairman of the Committee who does not have necessary security certificates ‘is not allowed to request, possess and publicly disclose documents marked with level “highly confidential.”

“Antonijo Milososki submitted request to Office of the President of the Republic of Macedonia to obtain document from the leaders’ meetings held in January and May 2018, and not through official way but personally received the document from President Ivanov’s Office, thus violating the law. The document was opened and after several days the document was brought by other persons to be archived. By this the document becomes the property of the Parliament,” the press statement reads.

Sources of the Parliament Speaker’s Office said that Talat Xhaferi acted in line with Article 52 of the Rules of Procedure of the Parliament, which states that lawmaker is obliged to conceal the state, official, military and business confidential information.

“A secret shall also be considered all the materials that are delivered to the Parliament and the working bodies, marked as such by the proponent of the material. The methods of handling and storing of the materials considered a secret shall be determined with a separate act, passed by the Parliament Speaker,” reads the press statement.

Therefore, Parliament Speaker Talat Xhaferi, neither hid nor is hiding any materials and information, but acted solely according to the Law and the Rules of Procedure and that he will not allow illegal work in Parliament of the Republic of Macedonia.