The Rise and Fall of the Handsome Minister

Although every acclaimed citizen of Krusevac has been at least once taken into custody, summoned for the informative talks or had the passport taken away over the last several days, no one has officially been looked at askance by the prosecution authorities following the arrest of former minister Velimir Mihajlovic (until Thursday). The arrest of the youngest politician of Kusevanc and the fact that their Velja (his nickname) is one of the main protagonists in the affair which is shaking the top Serbian authorities, has exalted the town. The circles, which had been in any way close to the now former ministers, are being checked for what they have been doing and how many contacts they have had with Velimir Mihajlovic in the recent months and years.

The special pschycosis has spread among the local businessmen and politicians since all of them placed their trust in "our man" in the Serbian Government. To speak the truth, Mihajlovic had, indeed, done a great deal for Krusevac while he was the member Bozovic's Government (former Serbian Prime Minister), and many did hope that Krusevac would be granted a "special status" in the fields of trade, tourism and hotel business.

In the manner, well-known form the postwar period, the first to renounce Mihajlovic were his friends along the party line. Although it is still generally suspected in Krusevac that Mihajlovic could have made a false step, those well versed in the local situation, point at his dizzying political career which has so far provided only partial answers to ever frequently raised questions.

Political ascent of the youngest minister in Sainovic's Government (current Serbian Prime Minister) began all of a sudden, just as it was suddenly stopped with his arrest, his dismissal from the ministerial office and his expulsion from the Serbian Socialist Party. In November 1989 when he was 37 and still an absolute political anonymous, Mihajlovic suddenly won the seat of the Krusevac Mayor after a several month long personnel reshuffle. His previous working engagement in the "October 14" Food Industry, where he was the assistant commercial director, did not considerably help his assertion, not even within the factory' s walls.

In the first multi-party election in 1990 he became a member of the Serbian Parliament, as one of four Krusevac MP's from the ranks of the ruling party. Radovan Bozovic tended to give credit to his own generation so that Velimir Mihajlovic became his favourite. When Sainovic was "temporarily engaged" in the federal government, Mihajlovic took over the Ministry of Energy, besides the industrial sector, at the moment when the embargo was beginning to take the toll in this branch as well.

The political bearings of the young minister were assessed as clever, which was followed by predictions of his successful career. Even when he was the Mayor of Krusevac, Mihajlovic made close contacts with his countryman Dobrica Cosic. A day before his arrest Velimir had, as his wife Gordana claimed, private lunch with the President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

However, there were those who had at the very beginning opposed some of Mihajlovic's moves, particularly his investments in the development of the town's public services. But, Velimir used his charms to remove all doubts. While still the Mayor, his biggest investment project was the reconstruction of a street which leads to his house. Although the project had been promoted as the reconstruction of the road to the Jastrebac resort, the wide avenue reached only to Mihajlovic's gate. The outrageously expensive reconstruction of the theater in Krusevac represents one of his dubious business undertakings, which resulted in the empty municipal budget and commodity reserves. His coming to the post of the Trade Minister came as a surprise to the well-informed in Krusevac. It then became clear that the Ministries of Energy and Trade were closely connected, when it comes to profiteering. Radoslav Dimitrijevic, the acting director of the Republic's commodity reserves and the re-elected general manager, is yet another personality in Krusevac who has recently become the target of persistent journalists.

All until the "ministerial affair" came to light Krusevac had been relatively well supplied with petrol and diesel fuel. The gas lines have become longer with Mihajlovic's arrest, while the queuers in bad mood are killing time by complementing the list of those who should join their Velja in prison. The rating of the prominent townsmen is now being determined according to these lists.

Automobil Mafia

Right before the Mihajlovic affair broke out, the affair over the deals with stolen cars and those with forged papers had been the local "hit" in Krusevac. The public, however, did not take it for granted that the three persons charged with forgery were the only ones responsible. Responding to the demands made by the public the Democratic Movement of Serbia (DEPOS) requested that the names of all 500 owners of cars with false papers be revealed. The lists of those suspicious in both affairs, as the rumour has it, overlap.