Macedonia opposition leader says PM ordered 'massive wire-tapping'

Macedonia's chief opposition leader Zoran Zaev speaks to the media during a news conference in Skopje February 9, 2015. REUTERS/Ognen Teofilovski

SKOPJE (Reuters) - Macedonia's chief opposition figure accused Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski on Monday of wire-tapping journalists, religious and opposition leaders, deepening a scandal that has engulfed the European Union candidate country in recent weeks.

Zoran Zaev, leader of the opposition Social Democrats, told a packed news conference in Skopje Gruevski and his counter-intelligence chief, Saso Mijalkov, had orchestrated the wire-tapping of more than 20,000 people for "at least four years".