|
U.N. POLICE ARRESTS TWO ETHNIC ALBANIANS OFFICIALS FOR
CORRUPTION Two men, both ethnic Albanian, who abused their posts in an office
that maintains property ownership records for the region around Pristina, the
provincial capital to illegally transfer property ownership over the past 2
and ˝ years, was arrested by UN police in Kosovo on charges of
corruption. Corruption and organized
crime remains deep-seated in Kosovo, a Yugoslav province that has been administered
by the United Nations and NATO since June 1999. (AP, 24
Sep 2002, summary by Hanh Vu).
Belgrade,
CORRUPTION OR APPROVAL-RATING CONCERNS? The Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS)
of Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica withdrew its representatives from
the government of Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, frustrated with the
government's attitude toward organized crime. "It is justified to ask
whether organized crime is protected and supported by certain parts of the
government or whether the Government of Serbia is incapable of fighting
it," the DSS Presidency said in a statement. Organized crime is by far
the biggest problem the new authorities inherited from the regime of former
President Slobodan Milosevic. (Source: Transitions Online, August
20, 2001, summary by Pavlidis George).
CENTRAL BANK URGES MONEY LAUNDERING CRACKDOWN The National Bank submitted a draft law
to parliament requiring identification of clients who deposit more than
900,000 dinars ($13,400) in new or existing accounts. Reformers who have vowed to fight crime
and corruption after former President Slobodan Milosevic was ousted, will
also require banks to cooperate with the judiciary, police, customs
controllers, and tax inspectors.
(Yugoslavia Today (Reuters), Apr
25, 2001, summary by Marg Reynolds).
BANK ACCUSES SWITZERLAND
OF BEING UNHELPFUL OVER MILOSEVIC ACCOUNTS
Ottmar Wyss, chief of Export Controls and Sanctions at the Swiss
Secretariat for Economic Affairs stated Switzerland
will assist authorities in Yugoslavia’s
effort to gather banking information to advance the case against Slobodan
Milosevic. The Swiss legal system
framework states information can be given only after Yugoslavia
launches an indictment against Milosevic and his entourage. Mladjan Dinkic, Yugoslavia’s
Central Bank governor, stated the Milosevic family deposited $4 billion
between 1992 and 1993 and over one hundred questionable accounts of Yugoslav
nationals are believed held in Swiss bank.
He believes lack of forthcoming information is hindering the case
against the former president. (BBC
Monitoring Service, Apr 13, 2001,
summary by Marg Reynolds).
EIGHT MILOSEVIC AIDES HELD FOR CORRUPTION Former associates and aides of Slobodan
Milosevic, ousted President, have been detained by police on suspicion of
corruption. Included are: Uros Suvakovic, former State Security
Head; Nikola Curcic, former Secret Police Deputy Chief; Rade Markovic, former
Secret Police Head; Danilo Pantovic, former Foreign and Interior Ministry
senior official; and Milos Lonar, federal government official. These arrests bring the number of former
associates to about fifteen and four more officials are suspected of health
insurance fund embezzlement in the amount of 350,000 Pds. (The Guardian, Mar
28, 2001, summary by Marg Reynolds).
INVESTIGATORS TRACE PATH OF LOOTED GOLD A probe into the gold bars originating
from the Bor mining complex to the Swiss metal markets, realizing a net of at
least $6.8 million, may lead to aides of former President, Slobodan Milosevic,
or the ex-President himself.
Investigators estimate that the family of Mr. Milosevic and 200
businessmen-politician friends for personal use has skimmed hundreds of
millions to several billion dollars.
In 1997, Italian and Greek phone companies paid $1 billion for the
cell phone company, PTT Serbia.
Yugoslavian officials claim $200 million disappeared and $350 million
went to companies controlled by friends of the President. Slobodan Milosevic leaves a legacy of
devastating wars, national economic ruin, a 78-day NATO bombing campaign, and
formerly state-owned industrial facilities stalled and wrecked. (WP, Mar.
12, 2001, summary by Marg Reynolds).
PROSECUTORS
SHOW SIGNS OF CLOSING IN ON MILOSEVIC. Serbian authorities have announed formal
investigation into activities of Slobodan Milosevic, former President, during
the wars, atrocities, and widespread corruption of the last decade. If the government of Yugoslavia
does not turn Milosevic over to the War Crimes Tribunal in the
Hague, it will risk forfeiting $100 million in aid
from the United States. The chief tribunal prosecutor, Carla del
Ponte, has demanded the European Union also link aid to cooperation. (Yahoo News, NYT, Mar.
1, 2001, summary by Marg Reynolds).
MILOSEVIC
LIKELY TO BE TRIED FOR CORRUPTION, NOT RIGHTS ABUSE – GOLD SHIPMENTS
INVESTIGATED Nearly a dozen leads
are under investigation against former President Slobodan Milosevic as he
remains under 24-hour police surveillance.
The leads include media reports that he shipped 380 pounds of gold to Switzerland
in late 1999. A code of silence has
abided by of presidential aids taken into custody, and also former secret
police chief, Rade Markovic, arrested on suspicion of involvement in an
attempted political assassination.
President Vojislav Kostunica’s new government has refused to turn
Milosevic over to the United Nations War Crimes Tribunal in The
Hague and will try him on corruption charges in Yugoslavia,
not war crimes in The Hague. Yugoslavia
faces a cut-off of U.S.
financial aid unless it cooperates with the war crimes tribunal. (WP, Mar. 1, 2001,
summary by Marg Reynolds).
SLOBODAN
MILOSEVIC MAY FACE CRIMINAL FRAUD CHARGES
Ex-President,
Slobodan Milosevic, could be sentenced to three years in a Serbian prison for
financial fraud. Yugoslavia
has refused to turn him over to the World Court
on charges of genocide. Dusan
Mihajlovic, Interior Minister, is investigating allegation that Milosevic
gave a false picture of his assets in order to receive a luxury house and has
also tens of millions of dollars in secret foreign accounts. (NY Daily News, Feb.
26, 2001, summary by Marg Reynolds).
PROSECUTOR
PREPARES TO CHARGE MILOSEVIC
Prosecutors are preparing charges of giving false information, abuse
of power, and illegal profit-making against former president, Slobodan
Milosevic. While not serious charges,
it has caused the investigation to widen to other Milosevic-era politicians. The Serbian reformist leadership plans to
try him first in Yugoslavia
on charges of corruption, leaving war crimes for later. (Yahoo News, Reuters, Feb.
26, 2001, summary by Marg Reynolds).
UNTANGLING MILOSEVIC'S WEB OF GRAFT. Leading economists and
members of the former political opposition who have gained control of key
bureaucracies such as the customs bureau, national bank, Belgrade
city hall, and a few state-owned enterprises, have found evidence of illegal
or unethical financial transactions made under Milosevic's rule. Leaders seem
to have stolen hundreds of millions, perhaps billions, of dollars in
state-owned property or assets to enrich themselves while average citizens
saw their living standards worsen. Serbia
has a total population of about 10 million, and, according to respected
businessman Milorad Savicevic, their country is poor because they have
"low production, no investment, and lots of corruption. The result is a
nation with 4 million really poor people, and 10,000 really rich
people." One of the illegal practices uncovered was the donation of the
Serbian Renewal Movement, which last controlled Belgrade,
of 750 city-owned apartments to relatives and friends, without any payment.
There are also records of a transfer of an estimated $1 million-worth office
building from Belgrade to the
city office of the Socialist Party, again without payment, and the shifting
of personal debts from private businessmen to the city. Now, Belgrade
has only $75,000 in its bank accounts. At the center of the Milosevic
government's illegal profiteering was its decision to maintain an official
exchange for the nation's currency, the new dinar, that lessened its real
value five-fold. Though prices of basic commodities were held down, the
politically loyal availed of exclusive access to the discounted rate to gain
instant profits. Other schemes used were the selling of state-owned assets to
insiders after artificially depressing their value; giving of duties at a
fraction of the required rate to trucks of goods imported by favored
businessmen; giving of import-export licenses based on patronage; and
collection by politicians of under-the-table fees of $2,000 to $3,000 for
street kiosks licenses and for pocketing 40 to 50 percent of the value of
city contracts in illegal fees. (International Herald Tribune, 24
October 2000, summary by Debbie Uy).
May Day Protest In Yugoslavia
Against Govt Policies. (See item 10, May
1, 2000 Dow Jones Newswires).
BELGRADE (AP), Racan was referring to the previous
government of the late President Franjo Tudjman, which is widely accused of
corruption and financial scams that enriched Tudjman's associates at the
expense of average Croatians.( Dow Jones Newswires, May
1, 2000).
|
|
