The Most Powerful And, Perhaps, Most Affluent Family In Croatia

Year and Place of Birth: father Franjo (1922, Veliko Trgovisce), mother Ankica (unknown, both officially and unofficially, Zagreb), older son Miroslav (1946, Belgrade), younger son Stjepan (1948, Belgrade), daughter Nevenka (1950, Belgrade), grandson Dejan Kosutic (1970, Belgrade).

They are famous for: Franjo-the President of the Republic of Croatia, the President of the Croatian Democratic Community (HDZ), the Supreme Commander of the Croatian Army, Ph.D. in history (the thesis ``The Causes of the Crisis of Monarchist Yugoslavia from Unification in 1918 to Collapse in 1941,'' defended on December 29, 1965).

Ankica-the first lady of Croatia, the patroness of the foundation ``Mother Courage,'' the President of the humanitarian Fund for help to Croatian children, the author of the book ``The Croatian Military Insignia.''

Miroslav-coordinator of Croatia's secret services as the Head of the Croatian intelligence (HIS), Ph.D. in computer science and university professor.

Stjepan-the owner of the company ``Domovina'' (translates as ``fatherland,'' ed.n.) holding), economist.

Nevenka-the owner of the company ``Netel.''

Dejant-he owner of the savings and credit cooperative ``Kaptol,'' the company DMD, and the company and shootingrange ``Domogojevci strijelci, Ltd.''.

They own: The villa in 59 Nazorova Street, that the Tudjman family bought for 214,000 DM in 1992, twentyfour hours before the Croatian Parliament was to pass the law that bans the sale of luxurious villas.

What's on their disposal: Franjo and the members of his family, if they accompany him, travel by special presidential plane, that cost 18 million dollars of taxpayers' money. A representative presidential yacht (2 million dollars) is currently being built. Finally, the residence of late Josip Broz Tito situated on the Brioni Islands in the Adriatic is on their disposal for representation of the head of state.

When they lived in Belgrade, Ankica and Franjo owned a moderately big flat (less than 100 sq.m.) in General Zdanova Street. Since they had modest salaries, Franjo as a colonel of the Yugoslav People's Army in the Headquarters' Political Department (later general from December 20, 1960, to demobilisation on August 15, 1961) and Ankica as an employee of the State Secretariat for Foreign Affairs, it was not a problem for them to afford a blue `Opel Record'. Their impressive collection of paintings and books also comes from Belgrade. Their financial situation significantly improved when they moved to Zagreb: Franjo was the director of the Institute for History of the Workers' Movement (fees for lectures and books are to be taken into account) and Ankica was in charge of the archives of Radio Zagreb. However, Franjo retired and was imprisoned because of politics.

After a successful university career at the Philosophical Faculty in Zagreb, Miroslav was appointed brigadier of the Croatian Army and head of the Department for psychological and propaganda activities. He was later promoted to general, but, as far as it is known, has no business contacts.

Stjepan used to represent one firm from Pozarevac (home town of the Serbian President) in Zagreb. In 1989, together with Ivan Bobetko and Krunoslav Sutoni a coowner of the ``Domovina'' company, which was founded by 50 most prominent members of HDZ and christened by Franjo. The firm later transformed into a holding, entered a consortium for building of the ZagrebGoricanin motorway, and became the main food supplier for the army.

Nevenka was interested in painting and is said to have had several exhibitions. At the moment, in her duty free shop cigarettes and whiskey are at least 1 DM cheaper than in similar state shops nearby.

After founding his first company registered at 16 Savska Street (the original seat of HDZ), Dejan started dealing Austrian juice and ironing boards that could be used as a ladder. He never paid bills for business premises in Zitnjak, a district of Zagreb, (because of which they were later appropriated), nor did he pay other debts. All this did not stop him from opening a private shooting-range (he reportedly said he had invested 500,000 DM, but independent assessments point to a double figure) with a special permission issued by the Ministry of the Interior, since it provides training for those who seek a permission for firearms. According to Croatian laws, he had to invest at least one million DM to open the savings bank ``Kaptor.'' However, there are rumours that his business is not exactly thriving.