Kiss of the Spider-Woman

Although the Yugoslav Parliament has only recently formed an investigative board for "the case of the year" to look into the banking affair "Jezda and Dafina", many believe that the case has already been solved by the board formed by the public. A simulated debate before the board is a compilation of the statements made by the protagonists in this "monetary tragicomedy" (or carried in the press after being broadcast on TV) or made at public gatherings.

An attractive team is taking part in our "monetary process":

Serb Mother and "Balkan Rothchild" - Dafina Milanovic

Big businessman and money pilot - Jezdimir Vasiljevic

The First Runner-up - Klara Mandic

Governor - Borisav Atanackovic

Prime Minister who kisses - Radoje Kontic

Parliament Speaker of the Socialist Party of Serbia - Nedeljko Sipovac

Expert for Krajina and Banking Revitalization - Slobodan Komazec

A man from the queue - who can easily be replaced by other 4.7 million people

A number of MP's, economists and other extras from the state apparatus will march before the tribunal.

Some presidents, ministers, public attorneys, governors, inspectors and many other persons in charge have not responded to the invitation to appear before the board.

Board: Mrs. Dafina, between 4.7 and 17 million people have accused you of fraud which cost between 250 million and 5,7 billion Marks. Do you feel guilty?

Mrs. Dafina: I'm disappointed with my people.

Board: The people from the queues say that it was you who disappointed them.

Mrs. Dafina: I will never betray these people. I swore to blow myself up, together with the safes, if someone tries to take the money from me. My conscience will remain clean.

If they happen to kill me, as I have no way of knowing what tomorrow brings, this bank will have no debts. This bank has one world credit. That credit is in Tel Aviv and will be used when Serbia needs it most. Those who are supposed to know this are aware of it...

Man: But, we, your savings account holders, should be informed since you have not returned us our money. Who took the money away from you? Who wants to kill you?

Mrs. Dafina: I would like to tell you that a number of opposition representatives have been here. From all parties. President Slobodan Milosevic is the only one who has not been here.

Man: Well, is Milosevic the opposition?

Mrs. Dafina: Many ministers have also been here. Both from the republican and the federal government. They can still come. However, none of them asked me for money, that's why it is ridiculous to talk about state racketeering. Never has a citizen, a common person, or a high official asked me that.

Man: Now, you are exaggerating. Was it Milosevic who took the money, since you no longer have it?

Mrs. Dafina: I must admit that I have copied Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic to a certain extent in my work. I went to the people at the right moment and promised them that "no one is allowed to rob you" and won their confidence. This is what I would like to say about Milosevic. He is very smart and very honest. Whenever he hears what is happening to the Serb population in Bosnia, especially to the children, he sheds a tear.

Man: We also shed tears, since we've been left without anything. But, tell us, was it Milosevic who spent all the money?

Mrs. Dafina: I cannot tell you everything, because you would immediately make a connection between Slobodan Milosevic and Dafina, and he has never been here.

Man: He may have not been here, just as he has never been to Vukovar or Sarajevo, but the money is gone...

Mrs. Dafina: I am not connected with the Serbian authorities nor will I ever be. But I think Slobodan Milosevic is a genius. He is the only one.

Man: That's exactly what worries us...

Board: Let's get back to state racketeering, i.e. financing the war. You made an announcement back in October 1992 that you gave 1.5 million Marks to Brana Crncevic for 500,000 refugees. You allegedly "bought" an exchange office and concessions for a trade center in Erdut for one million Marks from Zeljko Raznatovic-Arkan last spring at about the same time when the collapse of the Dafiment Bank began. You started paying a racket during the war in Croatia?

Mrs. Dafina: The largest contribution until February 1992 was made to Captain Dragan's Foundation exclusively for medicines and the wounded. I tried to imagine how I would feel if I had a son who's returning from the front wounded or as an invalid. That's why I intend to continue to help the wounded and the army as long as it's necessary.

Man: Then, you can expect to be doing it for the next one hundred years.

Board: You started giving the money last fall when the then Serbian Prime Minister Radoman Bozovic threatened he would close down your bank?

Mrs. Dafina: I had a duel with him from the very beginning. I got a permission to register the bank in July two years ago. It was as early as in October that he ordered the closure of the Dafiment Bank. I had no idea why the bank should close. A horde of people broke in and closed it. An apology followed 24 hours later, the papers were checked and I continued to work.

Later on he asked the money for pensions every month I gave it because of the people.

Board: It was then when Prime Minister Bozovic demanded a lump sum of about 3 million Marks, as a tax on interest rates. But, let's stick to your loans to the Pension Fund; the first loan amounted to about 7 million Marks. Why was the National Bank of Serbia, i.e. its governor Atanackovic, your guarantor?

Mrs. Dafina: The National Bank of Serbia knew what was going on...

Board: We have to ask Atanackovic to witness. Sir, we have heard that the National Bank of Serbia made guarantees to Dafina that loans will be paid back, and that it made loans to the Dafiment Bank later on. These two banks seem to have been closely connected. The Belgrade daily "Politika" wrote that you helped the Dafiment Bank at the end of March this year with a credit of liquidity of about 250,000 Marks (in Dinars at a 300 per cent interest rate and with a security in gold). Is that correct? The Belgrade daily "Borba" wrote afterwards that the credit amounted to 500 billion Dinars, i.e. 25 million Marks.

Mr. Borisav Atanackovic, the then Governor of the National Bank of Serbia: The National Bank of Serbia (NBS) has approved much more money to the savings account holders at the Dafiment Bank, than has ever been mentioned in the public. Naturally, one can give this a completely different meaning, but I will repeat, such a situation is not unusual, it is rather normal, I would say.

Board: NBS is not a business bank with business secrets. It is "national" and if you intend to deny something you should release the data about supporting the Dafiment Bank on account of all citizens of Serbia?

Atanackovic: There's no point in talking about the sums...

Man: Are you sure?

Atanackovic: I have no connections with Dafina Milanovic.

Board: You have been in touch. Djordje Tanic, the federal MP (and a member of the Serbian Radical Party) accused you that your son had received a 700,000 Mark loan from Dafina.

Atanackovic: That's a lie. As far as Dafina and her bank are concerned, all I can say is that the people took the bait. I have got a dozen of notes where I suggested that she should not raise the interest rates and attract the people. The people are naive and they would deposit their money wherever they would get the highest interest rates. However, both myself and the Serbian state made an effort to solve that problem...

Board: Would you specify what effort you made when you rejected all requests by lawyer Milenko Radic at the beginning of May this year when he demanded that a business permit is denied to the bank, that its leadership is replaced and their passports are taken away, that a ban on trade with its immovable assets is imposed, that an inventory of jewelry, works of art and cars is made, that their value is assessed and they are confiscated and that all gifts to family members and influential people are put in a court safe all until the money is returned to savings account holders and a bankruptcy procedure is ended?

Board: Let's talk about the property. Mrs. Dafina, will you tell us in what property you invested the money you got from your customers?

Mrs. Dafina: These are not only recent investments. "Borba" wrote on October 18, 1992 that I gave 72 million Marks for the Belgrade-Pancevo highway, 50 million for the Belgrade railway junction, 10 million for Slavija Square, and that I am building a business center. I must commend Slobodanka Gruden, the Mayor of Belgrade, who recognizes successful businessmen, citizens' problems and progress. By the way, "Borba" acknowledged my capability to succeed at the moment when it was thought that impoverishment is inevitable. And these are the latest investments. Together with a Swiss-Israeli firm, Dafiment Bank invested 40 million Dollars in an underground garage below Pioneers' Park. Luxurious facilities covering 38,000 square meters near Vuk's monument are finished, and one square meter will be sold for 4,000 Marks. We have got 400 premises in an elitist center "Kalca".

We have old deals with the "Simpo" furniture factory which are worth 100 million Marks, packaging water from Mount Durmitor that will cost 80 Dollars per one ton, which means 2 liters of water from Montenegro for one liter of oil... We also provided 30,000 liters of oil for the spring sowing. We donated 100 tons of diesel and 250 tons of fertilizers to a farm co-operative in my home town of Skobalje. Not one of our projects has proved to be a failure. I always consult our experts, and I know how to make a profit. Some are misinformed about the bank's capital, and others believe that they will manage to break up Serbia through the Dafiment Bank as they did not manage to do it earlier. But, I shall not allow them to do it. They were obviously sent to cause social unrest and overthrow the government in Serbia. It is not the question of the Dafiment Bank only. It is a political question. I invested in this country and in this people everything I had and I can not leave it.

Man: But, you bought yourself a luxurious villa in the Banjica Victims' Street. You should rename the street into the Dafina's Victims' Street.

Mrs. Dafina: That house is the property of my late husband Dragan, who died tragically. The house was bought before the Dafiment Bank received a work permit and was being renovated for a long time.

Man: Who financed the renovation? When the bankruptcy is filed, it'll turn out that you don't have anything, and I hear that you've already written off the money which you had taken abroad.

Mrs. Dafina: The Dafiment Bank has recently founded a holding-company with 25 firms worldwide. We work hard, because we are unable to make all the capital in the country.

Board: You keep mentioning 25, occasionally 26 firms worldwide, and the inquest has shown that there are only three: Dafimex Export Import in Vienna, Rayne International Ltd. in London and Dafiment Enterprises Cyipar. How could you make these investments when there's a blockade?

Mrs. Dafina: That's a business secret. On the other hand, if Jezdimir Vasiljevic (the owner of the private Jugoskandik Bank) had been a patriot he would have stayed here and said what he had to say, instead of leaving abroad and slighting his country from there.

Board: Mr. Vasiljevic is on the phone. The line is bad. He must be far away, so let's ask him short questions. Why did you flee the country on March 7 under the pretext that you were going to hold a press conference in Budapest about the chess match between Fisher and Kasparov?

Mr. Vasiljevic: Whoever refused to give the money to the authorities, as Dafina did for "fast trains", was prevented from working in Serbia and Montenegro. I was generous. I first gave 2 billion, and then 10. I could not see an end to that. The state racket cost me 4 million Marks in 1991, 7 million last year, and another million only in two months of this year.

Board: Who did you give the money to?

Mr. Vasiljevic: Matkovic, who was the minister and later the director of the Ironworks in Smederevo. And, then, over 200,000 to Nebojsa Covic for the election campaign of the Socialist Party of Serbia in 1992. I was robbed by Micko Vukotic from the Small Businesses Bank in Podgorica where I had to deposit 9 million Marks and by Milo Djukanovic, the Prime Minister of Montenegro, whose government blocked 50 million dollars worth of oil that Jugoskandik had imported. By leaving the country I started the process of destroying a corrupt regime in Serbia which will either change or end in a catastrophe.

Board: What happened with the savings account holders? On March 17 you said that you will guarantee with your life that the money will be returned to them.

Mr. Vasiljevic: I have the money, but I can't tell you anything else because of the embargo. The telephone line is so bad, I think it'll be cut off...

Board: Mr. Matkovic denied all claims made by Jezdimir Vasiljevic, who's no longer on the phone. Nebojsa Covic admitted that he had never taken any help from abroad as the traitors did, but only from Jezdimir Vasiljevic who is now abroad. He said that he paid back 200,000 Marks - in dinars, according to the legal interest rate and the official exchange rate. However, "Politika" published a series of mysterious figures on June 19. Firstly, an alleged purchase of hard currency to the amount of 175,000 Marks from the Serbian Traffic Ministry on October 27, 1992. A day later, Vasiljevic made another dinar payment for 240,000 Marks to the same account. The next day, he paid for 620,000 Marks. There also were direct payments for the Socialist Party of Serbia, ahead of the elections. It started on November 17 with 127,000 Marks and was followed the next day with additional 90,000 Marks. The third day Vasiljevic used the people's money to send another 145,000 Marks to the Socialists, while the next day Jugoskandik failed and paid only 36,000. After a short break, Vasiljevic sent 111,000 Marks to the ruling party. Was there any money left for his own presidential campaign, when he so generously helped the campaign of his direct competitor? But, let's turn to the responsibility of the state television. We've got several witnesses.

Man: We knew it that the Socialists were stealing from Dafina and Jezda, but we had no clue that the state television demanded a racket from Dafina. Seselj (Vojislav, the leader of the Serbian Radical Party) knows it.

Board: Vojislav Seselj could tell us something about that.

Seselj: You have seen and these elections have proved a suggestive power of television. However, the Socialists both in Serbia and in Montenegro have allowed this suggestive power to become prominent even when criminal activities are concerned. After the Jugoskandik Bank crashed and Jezdimir Vasiljevic fled, the Socialists let Dafina promise additional 2 per cent rise in interest rates, queues formed in front of her bank, she appeared on television and asserted that this could never happen to her bank. There was no limit to her time on television so she managed to convince thousands of people to come to her bank and give her the money after Vasiljevic fled.

Board: Here's Miroslav Stefanovic, an MP of the Serbian Radical Party. You raised the question at the session of the Federal Parliament on June 24 why high officials were kissing with Dafina. What did the Federal Government reply?

Stefanovic: When I raised the question I also supplied the photographs showing Dafina kiss with Slobodanka Gruden, Aleksandar Bakocevic, Foreign Minister Jovanovic, Klara Mandic, Prince Tomislav. When I asked these questions I wondered whether the Federal Government had made a contribution to the brutal robbery of people who deposited their money in private banks by doing nothing. There was always some kind of an answer which meant nothing.

Board: MP Domazet asked three questions five months ago. We will ask Prime Minister Radoje Kontic to answer them. Should the state compensate for the loss that the citizens have suffered? What did the government reply?

Radoje Kontic: The state is not a guarantor of savings deposits in private banks and savings banks, some of which are not even banks so that there is no responsibility?

Board: State officials managed to withdraw their deposits by avoiding the procedure. Can you explain this?

Radoje Kontic: That is a business secret of these banks, and the state has no right to violate.

Board: Should the state demand the extradition of Jezdimir Vasiljevic?

Radoje Kontic: No one has raised criminal charges against Jezdimir Vasiljevic and the government has no right to demand the extradition.

Man: This is really incredible!

Board: There are no direct indications in the public that the federal institutions are directly connected with these two private banks. The National Bank of Yugoslavia (NBJ) has even tried to stop the work of these banks. We'll ask Ivan Vujacic, an MP of the Democratic Party, who is an economist, explain whether an indirect connection can be established?

Vujacic: There is a clear connection between the National bank and private banks. It is obvious if you look at the diagrams, where there is a clear connection between the exchange rate in the Dafiment Bank and the black market exchange rate. There is an absolute correspondence. In a certain time period it was possible to predict precisely what the black market exchange rate would be only if you looked closely into the interest rates on dinar deposits in the Dafiment Bank. We can assume that this was done with the help of primary issue. According to our assessments, these banks have robbed our citizens of 700 million Marks, along with additional 400 million on the basis of dinar deposits which lost their value.

Board: But, before we tackle the main question pertaining to the amount which Dafina collected, we would want to know how many people have had a savings account in her bank.

Mrs. Dafina: I have told you on several occasions that about 14 million people have deposited the money in my bank, but the bank officials have tried to convince me that I have 4.7 million savings account holders. And, then, the Commission of the National Bank of Serbia has established that there were 15 million people and 28 million accounts. But, I must admit that there was a computer error. Finally, 5.1 people and 15 million accounts were found. But, what's completely wrong is that the Dafiment Bank owes to its customers about 1.8 billion Marks. When the Commission finally finished its difficult and responsible task, it was established that we actually owe 263,640,257.76 Marks. I sighed when I heard it.

Board: We'd like to ask Slobodan Komazec who was very optimistic about the future of the Dafiment Bank.

Komazec: Money was being paid behind our back which gave us only headaches. Many politicians applied pressure and got huge sums of money. We were practically blocked because we did not have access to all the data. We needed to have insight into the bank's potentials in order to be able to work, including those in the branch offices abroad which are not accessible to us.

Man: All that is in Cyprus.

Board: Mrs. Dafina, is it correct that you have been turned back from the border although you still have your passport.

Mrs. Dafina: On July 12 I set out to visit 25 companies we have abroad. It was their profit which was used for interest money. We were supposed to make a big business deal during that week, which would ensure a significant profit to one company and one bank. I also wanted to lay flowers on the spot where three members of my family were killed in the vicinity of Sekeszfehervar, because I did not have time to do it on July 2nd, when we celebrated the bank's first anniversary. However, the customs officers made a mistake.

Board: Is it true that you were protected by the secret service?

Mrs. Dafina: I had my security, about 120 young men.

Man: That's the entire army. They beat the hell out of me.

Board: But, let's return to see how much you owe.

Mrs. Dafina: We have a new team of experts in the bank. Professor Kostadin Pusar is at its head. According to the last survey, our debt amounts to 407 million Marks and is getting smaller every day.

Board: We have seen assessments with the figures of 260 million Marks, then 1.8 billion Marks, and then you mentioned 407 million Marks, and Acting Director of the National Bank of Yugoslavia Bozidar Gazivoda assessed on November 5 that the debt stood at 3.3 billion Dollars. What is one to do when the debt was about 400 million Marks i.e. 35 billion Dinars last summer, the value of which has now dropped to 70 Marks.

 

Mrs. Dafina: The time has come that one has to live from working and no on interest money.

Board: Mrs. Dafina, you already served the time in prison, before you started your banking career. You were sentenced to 14 months in prison.

Mrs. Dafina: It's true. I was tried in court, and my lawyers abolished the verdict, but I stayed in the investigative prison. I was beaten and maltreated...I must be frank, but I'm sick of everything. But, I'll tell you - that case was a frame-up. The people who did it promised me that I will go to prison. They demanded something but I refused, which is why I ended up in prison.

Board: We hope that these 3.3 billion dollars was not a frame-up.

Man: It's still a lot for one person.

(Except for the man from the queue, all persons have been quoted literally. The point of this simulation is to prove that journalists were the first to explain the crux of this affair, and the Federal Parliament waited till December 21 to form the Investigative board. This means that there is no work for this board, on the contrary. Everything is clear. The texts used here were published in the Belgrade weekly "Intervju", the Belgrade dailies "Politika", "Borba", "Vecernje Novosti" and "Ekspres politika", "Ekonomska politika", broadcast on Television Serbia or recorded at the sessions of the Citizens' Chamber of the Yugoslav Parliament.)