[ALBSA-Info] Funding of Milosevic's Crimes - NYT

[Agron Alibali]

The New York Times 
December 1, 2001, Saturday, Late Edition - Final Section A; Page 4; Column 5; Foreign Desk 

 Milosevic Accused of Secret Use of Funds 

Reuters 

THE HAGUE, Nov. 30 


Slobodan Milosevic secretly financed Serbian military operations in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo in the 1990's through Greek and Cypriot bank accounts, according to documents from the United Nations war crimes court that were obtained by Reuters today. 

Carla Del Ponte, the chief prosecutor at the tribunal, will call on the banks to provide evidence of the accounts said to have been used by Mr. Milosevic, the former Yugoslav president. He is to stand trial next year, charged with genocide in Bosnia and crimes against humanity in all three conflicts. "Significant documentation will be produced by those banks that will assist in identifying the system of covert funding used by the accused and specific transactions that took place," prosecutors said in applying for the three Milosevic indictments to be heard in a single trial. 

The documents did not name any banks, and prosecutors declined comment on the matter. 

Both Greece and Cyprus have categorically denied that they were knowingly conduits for illicit Serbian funds. 

A previous Bank of Greece investigation failed to find any funds deposited by Mr. Milosevic in Greece, while other searches in Cyprus, Switzerland and London also failed to turn up any of his assets. 

Yugoslavia was under strong economic sanctions during the Milosevic era. Since Mr. Milosevic was ousted last year, the reformist government that replaced him has been trying to trace funds it believes he transferred abroad.  http://www.nytimes.com 


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