[ALBSA-Info] Milosevic's money

[Agron Alibali]

Kathimerini 

Greece denies allegations of harboring Milosevic money

Germany confirmed on Wednesday that it had
intelligence on ousted Yugoslav leader Slobodan
Milosevic's financial holdings abroad but still could
not pinpoint where he had stashed his money.
A German intelligence report says Milosevic and his
associates are criminals who have stashed well in
excess of $100 million in ill-gotten funds in various
countries.

"We still do not know where the money is parked,"
deputy Foreign Minister Gunter Pleuger told InfoRadio
Berlin-Brandenburg.

Greek government spokesman Dimitris Reppas, commenting
on Wednesday, said that there was no evidence
indicating that the former Yugoslav president had any
holdings in Greece, and he called on the German
government to release any such information that it
might have.

In the report 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," Pleuger said.

Officials reporting to new President Vojislav
Kostunica have said they may make efforts to seek the
millions Milosevic and his backers are believed to
have diverted abroad. 

"Considerable evidence indicates Milosevic and his
entourage constitute an OC (organized crime) structure
and are engaged in drug dealing, money laundering and
other criminal acts," an internal executive summary of
the report said.

Estimates 

"The suspected amount of the Milosevic assets,
although most are not verifiable individually, could
hardly have been legally obtained during that time
frame," the report said. "Estimates speak of at least
three-digit millions of U.S. dollars."

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

Milosevic, his family and cronies have repeatedly been
accused of corruption and enriching themselves through
state-controlled companies during his 13-year rule of
Yugoslavia, which collapsed in the face of protests in
Belgrade this month.

"The near total occupation of key economic positions
by Milosevic loyalists opened the possibility of
illegal capital transfers for personal enrichment,"
Bild quoted the intelligence report as saying.

The report alleges that some 60 Milosevic cronies
controlled virtually all sectors of the Yugoslav
economy, according to BND spokeswoman Lydia Rauscher. 

They allegedly include the speaker of the Serbian
Parliament, Dragan Tomic, Serbian premier Mirko
Marjanovic and former energy minister Dragan Kostic.

Government institutions under the influence of
Milosevic's regime included the national bank, the
customs service, the JAT airline, the Jugopetrol oil
company, TV stations and a telecommunications company,
the BND charged.
 
 


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