A Sisyphean Ambition

The political crisis in Serbia seems to have taken on a new course from the moment Mladjan Dinkic, Governor of the National Bank of Yugoslavia, as a member of the Commission of the Serbian Government (founded to survey economic and financial business transactions), revealed, on July 18th, the list of 246 companies, liable to at least five out of twenty defined elements, according to which they might be subject to the Law on One-Term Taxation on Extra Profit and Extra Assets (passed by the Serbian Parliament on June 21st). The crisis is not a threat due to the fact that the inflationary beneficiaries of the past decade, which are mentioned on the list (the inflationary benefit allegedly amounts to 8.3 billion German marks, on the basis of primary emission and gray emission and on the basis of the ability to use the assets amassed thanks to the Loan for Serbia's Renewal), are mainly some big state-owned and socially-owned firms, but also, because the list of companies also comprises some 'fresh Serbian cream of the crop', which have, in the meantime, purchased a considerable share of the new political establishment. Namely, those 'Serbian hosts' now have means to confront the 'financial insurgence' of the new authorities, not only via public channels, but also by acting within the very structure of the new democratic government. Those who have been tightfisted during Milosevic's regime are now ready to pay more, but not by means of taxes.

In fact, the big Serbian capital has already caused a rift within DOS (the Democratic Opposition of Serbia), by dividing it into the so-called 'reformists' and 'legalists', 'mondialists' and 'patriots', 'centralists' and 'regionalists', etc. It appears that the leading DOS parties are evaluated by the number of significant financial investors who have adhered to them, but in reality, those investors are in chase of getting hold of power within bigger democratic factions, since, the inter-party quarrels will probably be followed by financial bargains.

During the interval in which the new tycoons have not yet found their places in political parties, or have not yet chosen those parties suitable for investment (since they want to invest in 'winners'), we are in a big confusion, in which this very pretentious law is already being disproved by one member of the Serbian Government (which has proposed its adoption), Dusan Mihajlovic, Serbian Minister of Internal Affairs, and one Federal Minister of Finances, who has been appointed to that office by a party that voted against the Law against Profiteers (Jovan Rankovic, DSS - the Democratic Party of Serbia). The same law was also rejected by the party responsible for the creation of the Anti-Corruption Commission, the party that has a leading position in the Serbian Government, and which has been the one to sign the Law on Extra Profit Taxation (DS - the Democratic Party's TV message against the new tycoons as the population's fiercest enemies).

We are now having a paradoxical situation with the Law on One-Term Taxation of the new wealthy social stratum - it probably cannot be applied as a shock absorber of the discontented layer of the socially deprived, which are, of as a matter of course, ordained to bear the heaviest burden of the inevitable transitional crisis. Does the middle class stand any chance in all this?

It seems to have been overlooked by the renowned expert team with political ambitions, G17 Plus, so all of a sudden, Mladjan Dinkic and Bozidar Djelic found themselves in position of defending the Law on Extra Profit - while Zoran Djindjic, Serbian Prime Minister, is currently very busy with making a compromise with Milan Panic, one of the most distinguished names on the list of 'extra profiteers' (allegedly Galenika ICN turned a profit of 98 million DM), and while Vojislav Kostunica, President of the FRY is still looking for a 'legal foundation' of war criminal suspects' extradition to the Hague, his party is becoming an assembly of Karic's 'educational and financial enterprise' (the BK Company has allegedly extra-profited by 114 million DM).

Commneting the first critics towards the Law on Extra Profit, Serbian Minister of Finances, Bozidar Djelic, stated (Maska TV BK) that those who claim this law was tactless, were talking nonsense (since, as Jovan Rankovic would say, the missing capital in Serbia would be increased from 23 to 30 billion DM, if they charged the tax of 7 billion DM on extra profit). Namely, Djelic's promise to enter the ownership of the debtor's company instead of charging the taxes, reveals another erroneous move of the Government (which has already been pointed out by Dusko Mihajlovic). Isn't Serbia quite comfortable with the current amount of ownership? By the way, why is NIS on the top of the list of extra profiteers (with alleged 165 million DM)? It is a one hundred per cent state-owned company, with a debt of about 1 billion DM, created by Milosevic's associates, though the new authorities are trying to find the means for its revitalisation.

However, the extra profiteers themselves began to make new erroneous moves. For example, Bogoljub Karic employed someone from Deloitte&Touche, who, as an auditor, managed to determine that none of 17 officially authorised persons from the BK system have reached extra profit (Blic, July 20th). On the other hand, our press colleague, Milomir Maric stated on BK TV (if I heard it well) that Karic is now most frequently condemned as an extra profiteer (instead of Marjanovic and Sainovic), though he was a man who was controlling the influx of capital in Serbia and keeping its economy alive. I wonder in what way did Bogoljub Karic maintain the vitality of Serbian economy and how big share of it was used for his building of the 'Serbian Versailles' in Dedinje? However, Karic's defence is still not upheld by some Russian academy of sciences or a local central committee.