Mile Ilic, the President of the City Board of SPS in Nis

Place and date of birth: the village of Jovac, municipality Vladicin Han, 27 July 1954.

Nicknames: Mile the Walrus and as of recently Mile the Thief. His close and more distant associates call him President.

Education: Law University in Nis, Master's Degree a year ago, now writing his doctorate thesis.

Career: He never dealt in anything but politics. He started off as the president of the youth organization of the Nis Grammar School "Svetozar Markovic." Until the first multi-party elections (1990) he was a local official and was then elected into the Serbian Parliament. At present, he is a deputy to the Federal Parliament, president of the Committee for administration and immunity issues and member of the Main Board of SPS.

What he is recognized by: Mustache. He is a dandy - always impeccably dressed, with gold rings, a gold watch, a gold tie-pin, a gold cigarette-lighter and gold-rimmed glasses.

His merits: He made Nis "Serbia's biggest construction site" and "did not let money flow out of Nis." He was the first to nominate Slobodan Milosevic for Serbia's president. He founded City Television (GTV) which uses Radio-Television Serbia's transmitter free of charge - local people call it MTV - Mile's television.

And the Nobel Prize: He denied the "gossip" which said that he had recorded Milosevic's nomination in the local TV studio ten days before the end of Dayton talks. "We did not pass the initiative on to the Nobel Committee, it was an attitude toward Slobodan Milosevic's policy."

Is his job a difficult one: "I prepared to be the target of various intrigues and gossips, but I was aware that I could answer them back with clear conscience." He admits that he is not ambitious. Suffers from sciatica.

The secret of his success: "Good organization of work."

How successful is he: The land tax has not been paid for a single building that he built (several tens of thousands of square meters in business space) which amounts to about 20-25 million German Marks. Each of the owner companies must, according to an agreement with Nis SPS, finance a project. A fountain, museum, arts university etc. have been agreed on so far.

His plans: "By the end of the century, Nis should have an opera house and ballet theater and complete its higher education network. I want to complete what is already begun and to begin something new."

What his wife says: "Mile is losing a lot by being in politics because his potentials are much greater in science." Dragana Ilic is the Secretary for Private Business and is known in Nis as the "landlady of business space."

Does he write books: He has written two - "Inter-Municipal Regional Communities in Serbia" and "Written down - Carried out" together with Dragoljub Mircetic. A year ago he published a book about himself "Eyes of Truth".

Does he have friends: Branislav Vakic, an SPS deputy to the Federal Parliament, swears that Mile provided lorries for the transportation of goods from the battlefront. (Nis connections "organized business" in Dalmatia mostly).

How about communism: It is a well-known fact that he is not on good terms with JUL. He says that communism "has its good and its bad sides" and that he is interested only in the good ones. "We got rid of all ideological prejudices concerning private capital a long time ago - we are open to all kinds of private initiative."

Does Sloba like him: After Milosevic's rally in 1992 when he was booed by the students and after which he dropped from an enormous number of votes to 32.6 percent in the elections, he was not replaced because SPS could not find another man who knew the ways in Nis so well.

Will he resign: "I would if the relations in Nis deteriorated so much that SPS would be responsible."

Has he got rich: "I haven't." He denies the claims that he owns a week-end cottage at Oblacinsko lake near Merosina and a petrol station in Bozidar Adzija street.

Does he have qualms of conscience: "Yes, because I don't go to parents' meetings."

What makes him sad: "When some people have different opinions about something."

Personal philosophy: "History is not written by the winners but by historians."