Shorts

Investigation in Zastava

Hranislav Jovanovic, director of the military maintenance department (VRZ) in Kragujevac, was arrested at work last week, Beta news agency claimed quoting sources in Kragujevac. The reason for the arrest, the sources said, was deliveries of ammunition to Bosnia that were paid for but the money never arrived. The reasons for his arrest could not be confirmed in the Kragujevac district court or with officials in Zastava. VRZ director general Colonel Borisav Todorovic would neither confirm or deny the arrest. He said an investigation is underway. Todorovic told Dnevni Telegraf that Jovanovic is not the first to be arrested and that there should be no fuss about it. The daily said another six people were arrested in Belgrade on suspicion of involvement in the munitions deliveries. VRZ employees said the military police escorted Jovanovic from his office last week and took him to the army stockade in Belgrade. His apartment was searched. A VRZ expert who insisted on anonymity told Beta that he is sure the investigation will prove Jovanovic is innocent because he is an honorable and decent man. One employee said Jovanovic was offered a Golf car from Pale but he refused and added that everything he did was for the good of the department. Tension ran high in the VRZ earlier because their bank account was blocked. A letter was sent to Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic asking him to solve their problems, strikes were scheduled several times and the factory managers threatened to stop producing munitions and start producing furniture unless the state and army pay up their debt of 70 million USD.

Army Helicopter Crashes

Major-General Mihailo Zugic, assistant Yugoslav Army (VJ) chief of staff, died in a helicopter crash on Tuesday, June 25 at Nis airport, the VJ general staff information service said. Helicopter crew member Sergeant-Major Milan Senic also died in the crash while the pilots, Captains Radovan Vuckovic and Goran Milekic were seriously injured.

Zugic was born on December 23, 1943 in Sijarinska Banja. He became a professional soldier on December 25 1965, spending most of the time since then in the air monitoring and guidance service. He was an electronics engineer and did post-graduate studies in combat skills. His last post was assistant chief of staff for communications and electronic facilities. Sergeant-Major Senic was born on March 30, 1950 in the village of Milanovac. He became a professional soldier on July 23, 1968. He was married and had two daughters.

No statement on the causes of the crash was issued by the time this issue of VREME went to press. Earlier crashes were explained with the consequences of the sanctions, the fact that fuel shortages prevented pilots from flying regularly, and low motivation by flying officers because of their material position. We would have to assume that a pilot who flies a general should not have any motivation problem. Official statements did not mention shortages of spare parts and maintenance problems. To date, more military airplanes than helicopters have crashed. In June 1994, two MiG-21s on a training flight collided over Bijelo Polje. Late in August 1994, another MiG-21 crashed near Uzice. In September 1995, a Galeb-4 crashed near Kragujevac.

Technique

VREME reported on a decision by Education Minister Mladenovic to broadcast this year’s questions for high school entrance exams on radio soon after the tests begin in an effort to avoid last year’s code breaking.

But kids wouldn’t be kids if they didn’t try to adapt to the circumstances. Today’s kids don’t believe in copying from each other or hidden notes. This year, they used pagers which meant the rules of the exams were violated since not all the kids have pagers. But the minister isn’t stupid and he changed the coding for the tests so the kids were sent messages with the wrong answers. He disclosed his trick when it was too late to change anything. Some teachers confiscated pagers and had fun reading the messages.

Directors

Politika daily readers could only conclude that company directors are a national treasure. The headlines in the June 21 issue: "Ivkovic: Foreign Capital Arriving Already in Companies Whose Directors Are Our Members" and "Director Cultivates Corn".

The first report said the foreign investments came "thanks primarily to the skills of the directors". The second said PKB chairman Vojislav Simanovic was tending corn fields himself after ordering all his employees to take to the fields.

The note by Politika’s agriculture expert Vladimir Djurdjevic was not just biasly praised: Djurdjevic wondered what "people who left their ancestral farms and have been persistently clinging to factories that haven’t been working for years are doing. It’s not a good thing if Simanovic is tending the corn while some illiterates are smuggling and dealing in Belgrade instead of doing a worthwhile job that pays well."

Stop the Black Market

"If the announced stamps for imported cigarettes are really under control the black market can be limited. If not, they’ll just be an expense," Nis tobacco industry (DIN) commercial director Slavko Petrovic said. The biggest tobacco plant in the Balkans has been sending demands for the republican and federal governments to curb the black market for months. DIN assessments said some 800 tons of cigarettes are brought into the country every month without paying taxes and customs duties.

The state budget suffers the greatest damage from smuggling along with tobacco plants and farmers. If the cigarette smuggling is stopped, DIN said it would increase its production by 50%. Last year DIN produced 8.75 million tons of cigarettes. Black market competition made sales erratic ranging from 85 to 800 tons a month. Street sales inflicted damages of 35 to 90 million dinars a month.

"The potential market in Yugoslavia is 1,200-1,500 tons a months and DIN sells just 350 tons," Petrovic said. He added that all FRY producers combined cover just barely half the market. DIN sources said the appearance of their products on the black market happened because of illegal import-export routes. They said buyers from the RS pay export prices but no taxes. A pack of those cigarettes smuggled back into the FRY is cheaper by 1.12 dinars.

DIN sources said the republican and federal governments could solve the problem overnight but have only been making promises so far.