Political As Buisiness

Bozidar Colovic, editor in chief of the state-run TV, was visibly embarrassed when he recently went on the air to apologize to viewers for an earlier report from an Serbian Radical Party (SRS) press conference, where Acim Visnjic had said that the republic's Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic wasn't the greatest criminal in the country after Slobodan Milosevic; Instead, he was the greatest criminal in the world.

While the Montenegrin public awaits the start of republican deputy Visnjic's trial, the state-controlled media have been ordered to issue a statement from the government's first autumn session which carries a recognizable threat to anyone who dares criticize the authorities. The government said it was discussing "increasingly frequent groundless attacks on the government by some parliamentary parties and individual deputies in the Montenegrin parliament".

Montenegrin President Momir Bulatovic was under a lot of pressure during the republic's first multi-party elections in December 1990. He had to deny reports that he was riding around in helicopters and documented his finances with a bank statement showing that he was overdrawn. The new authorities soon moved into new flats. Instead of selling some of the cars they inherited in order to reduce expenses, they bought new Volvos under very mysterious circumstances. They started driving their families around in the new cars and suddenly they owned luxury cars of their own.

Privatization started soon after. The authorities decided to shorten the road to a better future by attracting foreign investors. The workers were increasingly impoverished but they were constantly told to be patient and assured that Montenegro had spent its money buying up the foreign debt, although that had been done by the last Prime Minister of a unified Yugoslavia, Ante Markovic. Stories began circulating about the sales of beaches along the coast, as well as claims that foreign partners would build beautiful tourist facilities on those sites. A look into the financial means of those foreign partners showed that they couldn't build a medium-sized kindergarten.

The war started and the spoils of war began arriving in Montenegro. They were sold everywhere and no one ever found out who received the profits. Suddenly the notorious banker Jezdimir Vasiljevic appeared and rented the exclusive island resort of Sveti Stefan. Montenegrins were convinced that the republic was on the right track. Vasiljevic became the virtual boss of Montenegro, he saw the Prime Minister and President whenever he felt like it, and enjoyed every privilege. Montenegro did not become another Hong Kong, as the authorities had claimed it would. Vasiljevic disappeared, leaving behind rumors that he had been robbed by the republic's leaders and threats that they would be liquidated. Nothing came of the project to build a garbage recycling center 20 kilometers offshore.

The press reported scandals involving the authorities. They published instructions to the republic's foreign currency treasury showing that Prime Minister Djukanovic withdrew as much as 10,000 USD at a time. The authorities tried to eliminate any discussion of its involvement in crime through public harassment or trials on charges of "damaging Montenegro's reputation" (something this reporter underwent two years ago when he was sentenced to four months imprisonment and let off with two years probation).

Every day more and more people are convinced that the ruling party intends to wash its hands of the political situation now facing Montenegro, even if that means sacrificing Djukanovic and his government. The authorities did defend some ministers, but also dealt with them in such a ruthless manner that even their accusers felt sorry for them. Djukanovic wasn't defended by a single ruling party deputy when he was fiercely attacked by the opposition at the July session of the Montenegrin Parliament. Predrag Bulatovic, head of the ruling Socialists' Parliamentary group and fiercely loyal to the Montenegrin President, even publicly called upon the Prime Minister to respond to the accusations. Djukanovic responded, but he was visibly angry with his party. Djukanovic called all of his opponents liars and threatened them with jail if their accusations proved to be groundless. He was said to own a gas station in Danilovgrad, but he said the owner was a certain Mr Raspopovic and wondered why no one had said so publicly. Djukanovic is familiar with Raspopovic because he headed the party-owned company PARS where Djukanovic was the actual boss. Raspopovic is related by marriage to President Bulatovic and that accusation was linked to rumors of a clash in the top levels of the authorities. Novak Kilibarda, leader of the National Party and reportedly a very well-informed politician, publicly said that his party knew the Socialists could sacrifice Djukanovic and threatened to prevent the ruling party from washing its hands of its responsibility. Kilibarda quoted President Bulatovic, who had spoken of Djukanovic at the closing of the Socialists' congress in March 1994. Djukanovic was elected one of three party Vice-Presidents at this congress.

"This is a man who I want to honor because he and his government, in a typical, almost magical, way, did everything possible to ease the huge difficulties and prevent much greater poverty which has been imposed by historic developments, sanctions by the international community and the evil times we live in. The support I gave him, not just as President, but first of all as a man who thinks in a similar way and above all as a friend, was certainly not enough to ease the huge burden he carried."

It is almost unbelievable that Bulatovic could sacrifice Djukanovic so soon after those words, but the fact remains that the ruling party kept quiet after the latest attacks on the Prime Minister.

Sources close to the SRS said Acim Visnjic met with Marovic (another Vice-President of the ruling party) at the height of the campaign against Djukanovic and added that Momir Bulatovic's brother said the President would abolish the sentence if Visnjic is sentenced. The real question is whether a Djukanovic-Bulatovic conflict is underway. "Borba's" correspondent says the clash is seen as "the logical result of Djukanovic exceeding the limits of ethics, striking at the honor of the party and authorities". Clearly, the authorities can no longer deny the criminalization of Montenegro, war profiteering by the authorities, the plunder of socially owned property, and especially the huge increase in the living standards of the authorities. It is just a question of how they will deal with the fiercest accusations and justify the persecution of anyone who persists in keeping in accordance with the law.

Djukanovic admitted to oil and cigarette smuggling, and the state prosecutor said that no one would be prosecuted because that smuggling was useful to Montenegro. Djukanovic did not explain how his best friend Vuk Rajkovic was involved as a mediator in an oil deal offered to the government and how he came out of it 500,000 USD wealthier, as claimed by federal police inspector Pavel Zelic. State prosecutor Vlado Susovic didn't react to that charge, claiming that the signatures on the documents are illegible, although Zelic listed the names. The republic's chief waterworks inspector Nikola Spahic also lost his job because he refused to approve the construction of pumps to unload oil smuggled from Albania across lake Skadar and the Bojana River. Spahic was definitely dismissed from his post for refusing permission for oil pumps which could seriously endanger a national park and pollute the drinking water in several coastal cities. The authorities have drawn all of the state bodies into smuggling and have proclaimed it the key economic sector ensuring survival under the sanctions. VREME has reported that policemen are not allowed to talk about the things that they have witnessed and has uncovered incidents of armed police taking extortion money. This apparently stems from a statement by the authorities that the law cannot be allowed to obstruct state profits. Clearly, the "common good" has been used to disguise the fact that many authorities and those around them have grabbed everything they could with no hindrance by the police.

There are shocking reports of shootings and murders on the coast, especially the armed clash between Italian mafiosi in Bijela. The police issued a statement only after "Pobjeda" daily said it would do a feature on the theft of the Malambo yacht. The police claimed that they knew who the killers were and said they had fled to Italy. They neglected to say that the killers who fired six shots into the back of Roberto Saneloi's head and back had walked the streets of Montenegro's coastal towns for another two weeks and finally managed to escape in the yacht of the murdered man. The Malambo yacht was being used by Djukanovic and his friend Ratko Knezevic at the time. It is even more incredible that the yacht was ready to sail and evaded every border patrol as it crossed to Italy.

Clearly, the Italian mafia feels at home in Montenegro. An Italian TV station which can be seen in Montenegro did a report on them claiming that they were smuggling drugs with the tacit approval of the authorities. The Montenegrin authorities are blamed for a lot of things and it is getting harder for them to defend themselves. It is even harder to establish how rich they really are. After persistent assurances that the authorities do not own companies or businesses, the prevailing rumor is that Djukanovic has registered the government in his name and Bulatovic the Presidency. The people persist in asking questions about the origins of the kind of money needed for luxury cars and flats.

Djukanovic and Bulatovic frequently stress that they are the legal, legitimate, and democratically elected authorities.

The popularity of the two top leaders is falling, as confirmed by the Damar agency's recent poll. They asked 375 people in Niksic and Podgorica (2.3% of the electorate) about Bulatovic and Djukanovic. 25.6% are satisfied with the President and 26.2% with the Prime Minister. Dissatisfaction and fear are growing daily and the opposition claims that the authorities will not be toppled in the streets because the people have seen what that brings. The opposition wants a commission formed to investigate everything. But until that happens, many fear that a Latin American-style clash between the authorities and the criminals will happen.