Hunt for the 200 Richest

The parliament of Serbia seems to have turned into a place where sensational news are announced. At the last session, Dusan Ivkovic informed the deputies and the public about the commencement of Slobodan Milosevic’s arrest. Vojislav Seselj revealed on Monday, April 9 that the president of Delta Holding, Miroslav Miskovic, had been kidnapped that morning. That news proved to be correct, unlike the subsequent media reports which mentioned two, three or even four masked kidnappers, an Alfa Romeo or Lancia in which Miskovic drove to work, the trunk in which Miskovic’s driver was locked, the trunk into which Miskovic was placed, the ransom of two and a half, five or ten million marks…

The kidnapping was professionally conducted, at least up to a point. The headquarters of Delta Holding are located in Geneks’s tower, in the vicinity of the overpass of the Narodni Heroji and Bulevar Arsenije Carnojevica streets in New Belgrade. When turning into the underground garage, a dark blue Audi A6 with dimmed windows, driving backwards, flew out in front of Miskovic’s Alfa Romeo. From it, three masked kidnappers jumped out who, while threatening them with automatic weapons, forced the driver to enter the trunk, put Miskovic into the Audi and drove off. Around noon, ransom was demanded from the family (five million marks is the sum most often mentioned) and a promise that they wouldn’t inform the police (which failed to give any announcement on it until Wednesday) of the kidnapping.  Early morning on Tuesday, Miskovic was released “after the kidnapper’s conditions were met”, according to the announcement of Delta Holding’s PR department. The reserve with regards to the professional conduct of the kidnapping has to do with the fact that ten days ago, by using the same or a similar Audi, an attempt was made to kidnap Miskovic’s son Marko, also on part of the highway leading from Belgrade airport to the center of town; on that occasion the Interior Ministry (MUP) issued a statement that there is indication of a kidnapping attempt. It remains unclear why the police or Miroslav Miskovic didn’t take up security measures after it.

RANSOM: Among other things, in the last 13 years the citizens of Serbia have systematically practiced becoming used to unresolved murders, state and para-state racket, extortion, enforced debt collection and disappearance of people. High police officials had even introduced the custom – regardless whether out of stupidity or cynicism – to “soothe” the public with statements that it was to do with clashes amongst the criminals which, therefore, in reality can only be in favor of and to the advantage of the average citizens. All until – also unresolved – ministerial heads started rolling as well. Even the disappearance of Ivan Stambolic in August last year was initially “explained” as a clash on account of debts. 

Even though people had disappeared before as well due to “unresolved debtor-creditor relations”, held in “private jails” while their families or business partners would cover the debts or pay the ransom, kidnappings have incited increased public interest since October of last year. That dramatically started with Stefan Zivojinovic’s kidnapping, confirmed a few days later, finished with the paid ransom and temporary (?) emigration of Lepa Brena and Slobodan Zivojinovic from Yugoslavia. The kidnappers were never found. Professionalism grows proportionally to the demands of the criminals, i.e. the real or fictive wealth of the victim. Not so long ago, people were killed here because of false “tips” about the amount of foreign currency or jewelry kept in their houses. Some twenty or so days ago, on March 21, the police – complete with chasing cars and mutually opened fire – captured Zivko Galovic’s kidnappers in New Belgrade, for whose release they demanded 50.000 marks. Two days before that, Dusan Krstovic’s kidnappers were also arrested who had requested 2.5 million marks for him. In Kragujevac, the kidnapped Milija Milosavljevic managed to escape on Dec. 11, before two million marks were paid – but those kidnappers are also on the run. Slobodan Mandic, kidnapped on Oct. 30 in Sombor, also managed to escape. The three kidnappers, of whom one is a federal MUP employee, instead of splitting the 30.000 marks were arrested. The kidnapping “infection” seems to be spreading with regards to the demands as well: for Zoran Panic, kidnapped in Aleksinac on December 13, 5500 marks were requested. He managed to escape.

PROFESSIONAL WORRIES: Everywhere in the world, kidnapping is classified as one of the most serious crimes, which could even result with a death sentence in case children, for example, are kidnapped. To frighten and threaten with murder – or, literally, to demand that life be paid for – is sometimes accompanied by “arguments” of the cut off ear type, which happened to US multimillionaire Paul Getty when his grandson was kidnapped. A demand not to inform the police of the kidnapping goes without saying, it is mostly respected by the families; all of this was also apparent in the case of Stefan Zivojinovic and in the case of Miroslav Miskovic.

As far as the public security service is concerned, additional worries, which every policeman will mention, are presented by its poor equipment which disables it to operate efficiently. The public security department of MUP doesn’t even have elementary listening and recording device, surveillance means, not to mention the “high technology” of marking the ransom money. VREME’s interlocutors, with a greater or lesser dose of resignation, state that the largest part of the funds was spent on the public security department and on the specialists of this or that type, who drive around in US armored jeeps equipped with radio stations and parade about in “fishermen’s” hats and boots priced at a couple of hundred marks. The pompously introduced “Viper” group for combating corruption and organized crime has practically been disbanded under cover of MUP’s “reorganization”. Unofficially, rumor has it that they were idle and incapable officers who, allegedly, Belgrade’s police was glad to get rid off by transferring them to the republic MUP. 

The problems which – even in the case of the all more frequent “expensive” kidnappings – are becoming increasingly more apparent is the connection between the criminals and the public security department. Since Arkan, who identified himself from the beginning of the 80’s as an employee of the then Federal Secretariat of Internal Affairs, who also met up with Rade Markovic, the head of the public security department, on the day prior to his assassination – allegedly to resolve the social problems of the wounded and families of the fallen soldiers and members of the Serbian Volunteer Guard – the number of the “collaboration connections” from the demi-monde and underworld has multiplied to the point when sometimes it was difficult to differentiate between the policemen and the thieves in that dangerous game.

“PROFESSIONALS”: One high official of the government of Serbia believes that the frequency of the kidnappings is the result of the diminished space of the gray economy, which occurred after the monopoly takeover of the market for oil and oil derivatives. A possibility to handle money in an uncontrolled way – or, literally, by “collecting it on the street” – will be reduced in the near future, when the state puts the cigarette market under its control as well. Not contradictory to that belief, those who know the ways in which parts of the police and the underworld had “successfully” cooperated for years, believe that in the case of the “expensive” kidnappings, one could suspect the state security service’s former or current connections with a high degree of probability. In that sense, they are “professionals”, especially since preparations for a kidnapping demand a high level of logistics – from surveillance of the victim and finding a secure shelter, to communications with the kidnapped person’s family (for this, mostly stolen mobile phones are used, so tapping is of no use). According to uncomfirned rumors in connection to the newest wave of kidnappings, some respectable figures of Belgrade’s underworld have already been interrogated and subsequently released. 

In case the aforementioned assessment on the diminished space for an illegal and uncontrolled turnover of a large amount of cash is true, and if connections between the underworld and state security and police forces, until recently protected from the highest place, are truly starting to crack, then the newest wave of kidnappings could also be viewed as a sign of certain nervousness and hurry to make use of the left over time in the “best possible” way. That, naturally, doesn’t reduce the risks and danger, just like the price increase of security services doesn’t mean that it is more efficient. 

Those who are targeted have access to large amounts of money and – like in Miroslav Miskovic’s case – can pay millions of marks in less than 24 hours. This brings up the inevitable question of who those people are and, also, a connection to the answer with the announced or already commenced actions of the government of Serbia. Vuk Obradovic, deputy prime minister in charge of combating corruption, announced on Friday that companies and businessmen from the famous “200 list” often didn’t violate any laws formally, but had made use of the privileges they had enjoyed under Milosevic’s government. On Tuesday, at the session of the government of Serbia, finance minister Bozidar Djelic announced the formation of a government commission for a property and transactions inquiry. Those who have a somewhat better memory might remember a great action of investigating property origins from the end of the 60’s and beginning of the 70’s. And the outcome, of course: no one ever inquired about the tens of thousands of cases summarized in the reports of hundreds of commissions and binded in a dozen books placed in the Archive of Serbia. However, it seems as though the DOS presidency meeting has coordinated things and the expected passing of the law on taxing extra profit this week could signify the beginning of some kind of outcome.

EXTRA PROFITEERS: Assessments on the number of companies and rich businessmen which could fall under this law range from 200 to 5000. The draft law which should be passed foresees taxation of all whose property was gained under conditions which were inaccessible to the average citizens as of Jan. 1, 1989. Specifically listed are primary and gray money issues in financial transactions; purchase of foreign currency by the official exchange rate; taking foreign currency abroad on the basis of advance payment of fictive imports (i.e. removing money abroad); importers and distributors of exise goods (oil, cigarettes, alcohol, coffee) without paying custom duties, import duties, exise and tax; importers and exporters of goods on the contingent regime i.e. quota if they used special privileges, by using the company’s money without paying any rates (not paying the turnover in, hiding profit); business transactions with commodity reserves under privileged conditions (without tenders); abuse of public funds, public company means, budget or social insurance; nonrestricted spending of solidarity one day wage means, tax on business transactions and solidarity contributions for the earthquake; abuse in the privatization of companies, apartments and housing credits which exceed the allowed amount, office space and credit for it; “borrowing” means from the pyramid banks and withdrawing saving deposits over 10.000 marks; beneficiaries of the loan for the regeneration of Serbia.

The assessment of the value of the embezzled means on that basis as of 1989 until today vary greatly, and range from a few to 30 billion dollars. The number of firms, companies and individuals who made use of the “privileges” inaccessible to the ordinary people – from their privileged positions in which, without a conflict of interest, the prime minister of the republic government Mirko Marjanovic had provided business deals and optional tax and contributions obligations for Mirko Marjanovic, director of Progres. On this second issue eight firms in Serbia – mostly “economic giants” – owe 176 million marks to the state. From eight to 200 – or 5000 – there are a lot of extra profiteers. Therefore the list itself, i.e. names of those who will bear the brunt of this law isn’t as important as the question whether this government will have the will, strength and capability to see this through to its end. And, naturally, the eternal question also remains: who will be let off the hook, in name of what interest and at what cost? In this second case, a kidnapping can prove to be a lot cheaper way to cover this once-only tax for many.