[ALBSA-Info] Yugoslavia's missing cash found abroad

[Iris Pilika]

Yugoslavia's missing cash found abroad

Milosevic is accused of embezzling billions of dollars
December 2, 2000
Web posted at: 1125 GMT


BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (AP) -- Yugoslavia's chief banker says $1 billion 
transferred abroad under former President Slobodan Milosevic has been 
traced.

National Bank Governor Mladjan Dinkic said an organisation called the 
International Bureau for Control of Foreign Assets had traced the missing 
money to Cyprus and other countries.

"These leads are very serious," the Fonet news agency quoted Dinkic as 
saying. "We have been told which countries the money had been transferred 
to."

He said the organisation has offered help to Yugoslavia's new, pro-democracy 
authorities to retrieve the money from overseas bank accounts.

"We hope that we will be able to transfer all the money back into the 
country," said Dinkic, who took over the National Bank following the ousting 
of Milosevic after September elections.

Many in Yugoslavia believe Milosevic and his cronies embezzled billions of 
dollars during more than 10 years in power in Serbia and Yugoslavia.

In October, a German intelligence agency report said Milosevic and his 
associates were criminals who had stashed more than $1 billion in ill-gotten 
funds in foreign countries.

The German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) said Milosevic's private 
financial empire extended to Russia, China, Cyprus, Greece, Lebanon and 
South Africa.

In Switzerland alone, the agency estimated holdings at $100 million.

"If such accounts are really found, then they will be confiscated," Deputy 
Foreign Minister Gunter Pleuger said.

The report said those involved in the financial dealings included the former 
president's brother and Yugoslavia's ambassador to Moscow, Borislav 
Milosevic, his wife Mirjana Markovic and son Marko, who fled the country 
after his father was toppled.

The Associated Press & Reuters contributed to this report.


_____________________________________________________________________________________
Get more from the Web.  FREE MSN Explorer download : http://explorer.msn.com