Montenegro Airlines

"I’m not the ‘well known Montenegrin businessman’. I’m not holding any money to buy aircraft and I don’t know anything about it or whether the government has that kind of money," London-based Montenegrin businessman Ratko Knezevic told VREME. This reporter met Knezevic on the Montenegrin coast while a number of sources were saying he was the man whose private account was filled with 15 million USD earmarked to buy two Boeing 737-200 for the Montenegro Airlines company.

The failed attempt to buy the planes rocked the new company and the top levels of the Montenegrin authorities. There was a rumor that the company was being closed down and that it’s director Zoran Djurisic submitted a resignation which he later withdrew before it was officially registered.

Montenegro Airlines decided to buy the two planes once owned by Aviogenex Belgrade on favorable terms. Djurisic signed the deal in London on July 1 with an obligation to deposit the money within 10 days. There were no confirmed reports of the value of the deal but the most often mentioned figure was 14 million. The money was taken to Zurich in cash and the Swiss bank was expected to transfer it to London. VREME sources said the bank refused to take the money in cash allegedly because it didn’t want to risk being accused of money laundering. Another source said the Swiss bank refused to transfer the money to the account of an Australian broker company because of its involvement in illegal arms deals.

The money didn’t get there in time and the deal fell through. A reliable source added that the Australians filed a suit against Djurisic for failure to meet contracted obligations. All that happened in mid-July and a few days later Montenegro Airlines employees were told to go home because the company was folding up under a decision by republican President Momir Bulatovic who also demanded the dismissal of Djurisic and appointed the head of the government air service in his place. Bulatovic’s decision caused a big quarrel.

Soccer

The daily press says some 10-11,000 fans came to A league soccer games at six stadiums in the first round, or less than 2,000 a game. Nasa Borba commentators said "soccer brings people closer now since soon everyone at the games (players, officials, reporters and fans) will know each other".

The A league association blamed, among other things, live TV coverage of the Partizan-Radnicki game for the low turnout. Live coverage of one game when others are being played runs counter to regulations. Association commissioner Lazar Radovic asked Partizan for an explanation, the media began discussing punishment, and angry first league teams believe the Rad-Red Star game would have drawn a huge crowd.

Retired army General Jovo Popovic, soccer association security commissioner, just barely allowed the first round to go ahead. He established that none of the stadiums meet association safety standards although the stadiums were given 15 days to get things in order. There was a compromise and they were given till September 2 to comply.

In the meantime, families and friends of the players can see games at unsafe, secure stadiums across the country. Everyone else will sit back at home and watch the English premier league on BK TV.

Unlike Italy and Spain, England plays a more dynamic kind of soccer, the hooligans have been defeated, stadiums are full and the mood at games turns them into small festivals.

Yugoslav fans will have a choice next weekend: stay at home and watch Wimbledon-Manchester United, Southampton-Chelsea and Liverpool-Arsenal or go to a game.

Serious analysts will say that the base for recruitment was halved after the breakup of Yugoslavia, that instead of 12 big games a year we now have games between Red Star and Partizan, that all the decent players have gone abroad, that there is no mood at games and that people don’t have money.

It’s clear that the few hundred players in the A and B leagues are a sad example of the imperfection of professionalism in this country. There must be many among them who would have made great miners, long shoremen, doctors, engineers, sociologists, journalists. So instead of doing something they were born to do they’re playing soccer for incomprehensibly large amounts of money. And that money won’t last much longer. Partizan and Red Star will survive for a while on the money they got in compensation for their best players before turning to restaurants, casinos and money laundering. The solution might be to return to amateurism and limit the money players get.

Oil Monopolies

Montenegro struck back against Serbia. On Monday the police and financial police have been stopping tanker trucks carrying fuel for the port of Bar to Serbia. Over 50 tankers full of crude oil imported by Belgrade’s Jugopetrol for the Serbian oil industry (NIS) were parked in the Podgorica suburb of Zlatica. Neither the police nor any other official body in Montenegro would comment. The whole thing is in response to the holding of 30 tanker trucks in Pozega and Mitrovica (i.e. 900 tons of oil and gasoline imported by Jugopetrol Kotor).

The Montenegrin authorities kept quiet about the blockade for a few days before energy minister Miodrag Gomilanovic voiced surprise over the behavior of the Serbian authorities. Gomilanovic said he assumes the Serbian government confiscated the tankers because the federal government decided to impose quotas on oil imports. There was also a meeting of officials but no agreement was reached and the Montenegrin government did what it did.

Under the sanctions, Montenegro developed a specific oil industry which found a good market in Serbia and parts of Bosnia. The business continued after the sanctions were suspended but through Bar and Kotor taking the weight off lake Skadar. Jugopetrol bought oil and gasoline in Italy, Greece, Albania and other countries at an average price of .37 DEM a liter, paid customs duties on that price and another .18 DEM in other duties. Those duties were valid only in Montenegro and the money filled the government’s coffers. But, tanker drivers weren’t safe outside Montenegro even though they paid all duties. Sometimes, the buyer would refuse to accept delivery and drivers sold to private businessmen.

Several of the tankers in Pozega and Mitrovica were confiscated and emptied. So what could happen to the ones in Podgorica? All the drivers have all the required documents but nothing helps. They’ve been told to stay put until the two governments reach agreement.