The arrest of ministers two decades ago in the "Jugodrvo" affair, the "Kofer" affair, the disputed operations of the companies "Mobtel", "Dafiment Bank" and "Jugoskandik", are just a few that we remember.
Most of these affairs occupied the political space of Serbia for some time, and now almost everyone has forgotten them. "Time" reminds of some of them.
Sava Vlajković and Velimir Mihajlović / "South Tree"
Slobodan Milošević, two decades ago, in 1993, then the president of Serbia, announced the launch of an action to eradicate bribery and corruption. In March of that year, the Minister of Trade, Sava Vlajković, and Velimir Mihajlović, the Minister of Industry, were arrested on the charge of abusing their official position and taking a "commission" of 2.115.000 German marks. The indictment accused them of demanding from the managers of the company "Jugodrvo" to increase the offered price of oil by eight pfennigs per liter, and to give the price difference to them. The police found the money - the videos of the secret hiding place in the orchard where the ministers buried the extorted stamps were also broadcast. On October 31, 1993, the District Court in Belgrade sentenced Vlajković and Mihajlović to four years in prison each with an order to return the extorted money.
Nenad Djordjevic / Institute for Health Insurance
Nenad Đorđević, the owner of the Belgrade Trade Center, the founder and first head of the Yugoslav Left, and one of the former directors of the Health Insurance Institute of the Republic of Serbia, was arrested on February 18, 1998, on the charge of misappropriating more than five million US dollars by abusing his official position. The indictment specified that during 1997, in agreement with a certain Avram Adiges and his company "ICIT" from Liechtenstein, he entered into a "harmful contract" in which he increased the price of computer equipment by almost 50 percent, with which he tried to "obtain 5.202.989 US dollars".
On the same day, immediately after giving his statement, he was released, but after spending three hours at liberty, he was brought back to the MUP Belgrade, four days later he was taken to the Central Prison, where he was detained for 9,5 months. He was first sentenced to two years, but in April 2000, the Supreme Court of Serbia doubled Djordjevic's prison sentence and sentenced him to four years in prison.
Later, "all charges were dropped by a court decision, because there were no elements of a criminal offense. "JUL authorities arrested me only to steal my villa," Đorđević claims.
Smiljko Kostic / DIN Tobacco Factory
He was the General Director of the Niš Tobacco Industry from 1984 to 1998. He was opposed to privatization and during the time of the sanctions, he started the construction of new plants that would make DIN one of the largest cigarette factories in Europe. Kostić was a deputy of the SPS in the first multi-party convocation of the Serbian Parliament. He was arrested in February 1998, on charges of corruption. He spent 32 months in custody. The Supreme Court of Serbia acquitted him of most of the charges, and he served a two-year sentence in custody for unscrupulous work in the economy. Kostić stated that the process was organized by the tobacco mafia.
After the trial, Kostić returns to the political scene. He was elected mayor of Niš in 2004 as a candidate of the National Socialist Party, and he held that position until 2008. From that time, he is accused of malfeasance with apartments, because he allowed the purchase of two apartments without the prior conditions of the competent city administration and the opinion of the public attorney's office.
Dafina Milanovic / "Dafiment Bank"
Dafina Milanović, the former owner of Dafiment Bank and one of the symbols of Serbia's economic recovery, died in Belgrade on September 4, 2008, at the age of 60, after a long and serious illness.
Dafina became famous in October 1991, when she became the president of "Dafiment Bank", which gives citizens interest on savings up to 160 percent in a month. That fairy tale about the "Serbian mother" lasted until May 1, 1993, when bankruptcy was announced. After that, about 150.000 defrauded depositors stood in lines in front of the bank trying to withdraw money. It was later revealed that "Dafiment Bank" was a state project backed by the top government of Serbia. According to the findings of the Commission of the National Bank of Serbia, more than 450 million German marks were taken from the citizens of Serbia with this "project". The debt owed to defrauded citizens has been returned by the state since 2002 and will be returned only in 2016.
Milanović was arrested in 2002 in the German city of Zweibrücken on an international warrant. She spent almost two years in detention, and then in August 2003 she got cancer and was released to defend herself. In October 2003, Milanović was indicted for embezzling almost 20 million marks, one million dollars, 510.000 Swiss francs, ten million shillings and 200 million lira.
She accused Slobodan Milošević of the collapse of the bank and the death of her family members in a traffic accident on July 2, 1992, when her husband and two children died. She claimed that she was only formally the president of Dafiment Bank and said that the then governor of the National Bank of Yugoslavia, Borislav Atanacković, dictated the business policy of Dafiment Bank on Milošević's orders.
Milanović's trial in the District Court in Belgrade lasted almost three and a half years, but the criminal proceedings were suspended after her death.
Jezdimir Vasiljevic, Boss Riding / "Yugoskandic"
The first-instance verdict against Jezdimir Vasiljević, the owner of the pyramid savings bank "Jugoskandik", is scheduled for February 20 before the High Court in Belgrade.
On June 7, 2002, the District Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade filed an indictment against Vasiljević. According to the indictment, Vasiljević and his associates embezzled about 29 million euros by abusing their position and damaged 54.000 depositors for 190 million German marks.
The proceedings against Vasiljević and his associates lasted more than ten years.
During the trial, Vasiljević fled the country twice. The first time was in 1993, after the collapse of the savings bank, but in 2000 he was arrested at Belgrade's "Nikola Tesla" airport.
He fled Serbia for the second time in 2006, and the trial was then terminated. Because of this, his guarantee of around one million euros, that is, the mortgage on the house in Dedinje, which was pledged for him by a friend, failed. Vasiljević has been in the Central Prison in Belgrade since March 26, 2010, when he was extradited to Serbia from the Netherlands, where he was arrested a year earlier on a Serbian warrant. Today, he comes to the courtroom on crutches and often complains of his poor health.
Zoran Janjušević and Nemanja Kolesar / Cement plant "Novi Popovac" and the company "Kargo"
In December 2010, the High Court in Belgrade suspended the investigation against Zoran Janjušević, Nemanja Kolesar, the former head of Đinđić's cabinet, and two others suspected of abusing their official position in connection with the privatization of the "Novi Popovac" cement factory near Paraćin. Janjušević is known to the public as Zoran Đinđić's security advisor.
The prosecution claimed that Kolesar and Križan agreed with "Holcim" at the time of the tender announcement (2001) that their company "Breitenburger" would be declared the most favorable buyer. It is also stated that the Swiss company "on several occasions" paid about 2.000.000 dollars to the account of the company "Myron Sales Limited" from the Seychelles, owned by Janjušević.
However, after more than six years of investigation, on June 30, 2010, the High Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade abandoned the criminal prosecution of Janjušević and the other suspects due to a lack of evidence.
On March 3, 2007, Janjušević was sentenced to a suspended sentence of one year and eight months in prison by a first-instance verdict, due to income tax evasion in the amount of 7.702.665 dinars. In addition, a fine of RSD 800.000 was imposed on Janjušević. He then said that a "political verdict in a political process" was passed against him.
On November 1, 2012, the police arrested Zoran Janjušević, special advisor and founder of the company "Cargo Logistics Center of the Belgrade Shipyard" and the director of that company, Pavle Miljković, on suspicion of damaging the company for 800.000 euros. They spent a little less than two months in custody, and after the indictment was filed on December 21, 2012, they were released to defend themselves. Miljković is accused of having committed the criminal offense of abuse of official position because from January 1, 2006 to January 1, 2010, with Janjušević's instigation, he gave orders to the financial service to approve payments for the works that were carried out on Janjušević's house at Tolstojeva street number 7. In 2011, the criminal complaint against Miljković was submitted to the Higher Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade by the company "Kargo", which is owned by the company "Scepter".
Marija Raseta Vukosavljevic / VIP lounge
Marija Rašeta Vukosavljević, former Minister of Transport and Telecommunications, together with her associates, was accused of illegally taking more than one and a half million dinars in 2003 and 2004 during the construction and reconstruction of Terminal-2 and the VIP lounge at the Belgrade airport.
The former minister and her associates were arrested in November 2004, but the indictment against them was brought only after a three-year investigation in March 2007. At the beginning of the trial in November 2011, she denied all the allegations in the indictment, claiming that she was never in any way indirect or directly affected the operation of the airport, neither the tender announcement, the selection of bidders, nor the implementation of the contract.
On July 18, 2012, the High Court in Belgrade acquitted the former Minister of Telecommunications Marija Rašeta-Vukosavljević and her associates of abuse of office charges.
Bogoljub and Sreten Karic / "Mobile phone"
From January 4, 2006, when the investigation into Mobtel began, the special team for combating economic crime in the Criminal Police Department of Belgrade filed 11 criminal charges for 29 criminal acts committed against the Public Enterprise "PTT Serbia", the then co-owner of "Mobtel". .
The investigation was completed in May 2008, and more than 100 witnesses were heard, and expert reports lasted more than a year.
The investigation established that 20 people damaged that company for ten billion dinars, or about 115 million euros. The first names on the list of suspects for embezzlement in "Mobtel" are certainly the brothers Bogoljub and Sreten Karić. who have been on the run since 2006 and an international arrest warrant has been issued against them.
The Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Belgrade filed an indictment (written on 60 pages) on September 18, 2010 against Bogoljub and Sreten Karić and 14 other persons for several criminal acts of abuse of official position since 1998, when the company "Mobtel" was founded, and all until 2005, with which they caused damage to Serbia of several billion dinars, i.e. about 60 million euros, said the spokesman of the Republic's Prosecutor's Office Tomo Zoric.
By the way, "Mobtel", mobile network 063, was sold in 2006 to the Norwegian company Telenor for 1,513 billion euros.
Mile Dragic / Armor
Mile Dragić, the owner of the company of the same name for the production of military and police equipment, after eight years of trial, was acquitted for the second time on February 12, 2013 in the affair known as "Pancir".
Dragić was accused in July 2007 together with the former Minister of Defense Prvoslav Davinić, the former Assistant Minister of Defense Milun Kokanović and the former head of the Department for Development and Equipment of the SCG Jovica Vučković in the affair called "Pancir", but the proceedings against him were separated from the military department of the District court in Belgrade, because he is not a military person. The disputed contract, for which the defendants are charged, in 2005 provided for the procurement of 69.000 helmets and more than 60.000 bulletproof vests for the army, which at that time had 28.000 soldiers, and it was estimated that the state would be damaged by 176 million euros due to unreasonably increased prices. .
Dragić himself was accused of abusing his powers in the economy in an attempt to obtain a financial benefit of 6,7 million euros, as well as for illegal possession of firearms and explosive substances.
Dragić was accused of having on August 25, 2005, with the intention of obtaining an illegal financial benefit, allegedly misleading the head of the Supply Directorate at the Ministry of Defense, Mile Bogdanović, because he hid from him the facts that the price of the offered military equipment was significantly higher than the market price.
In June 2010, Dragić was acquitted of all charges in the Zrenjanin Basic Court. The Court of Appeal in Novi Sad, however, annulled the first acquittal, so the trial was repeated.
Since the indictment was filed and the trial began, Dragić claimed that the entire process was rigged and that the prosecution's claims were unfounded and malicious.
Prvoslav Davinić / Satellite
Even after eight years since it broke out, the "Satellite" affair has not been fully resolved. According to the indictment, Minister of Defense Prvoslav Davinić is accused of abusing his official position in Paris in 2005 as the Minister of Defense of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro and concluded a contract with the Israeli company "Imageset" on the right to use satellites worth 44,9 million euros and damaged Serbia in that amount.
The proceedings against Davinić have been going on for two years before the First Basic Court in Belgrade. Due to the disclosure of information marked as a "state secret", the trial was closed to the public.
During the hearing before the investigating judge, in February 2012, Davinić denied the allegations of the prosecution. He claims that the document he signed is in fact a pre-contract that is not binding either for our country or for Israel, because it does not contain all the essential elements for concluding that legal deal, in accordance with our procedure.
An investigation against Davinić was requested back in October 2006, but the military department of the District Court rejected the prosecution's request twice. The High Court in Belgrade conducted an investigation against Davinić by order of the Supreme Court of Serbia from April 2009.
Due to non-fulfillment of the obligations from the lease contract for the satellite intended for monitoring the border with Kosovo and Metohija, the Israeli company sued Serbia at the International Court of Arbitration in Paris and won the dispute, so the state is obliged to compensate it for damages of about 37 million dollars.
The Government of Serbia made a decision on the payment of the mentioned amount from budget reserves, which was published in the "Official Gazette" of May 2, 2010.
Dragan Dzajic / Football player transfer
Dragan Džajić, Vladimir Cvetković, Miloš Marinković and Ranko Stojić were accused of abuse of office during the sale of four Zvezda players.
Džajić, Cvetković and Marinković were arrested on February 5, 2008 and spent five months in custody, while the investigation against Stojić was started later. Zvezda's leaders were arrested on suspicion of abusing their positions during the sale of football player Goran Drulić to Spain and embezzling 5,1 million euros from that transfer. In the meantime, the prosecution expanded the investigation to three more disputed transfers, Zoran Njeguš, Ivan Dudić and Perica Ognjenović, as well as Nemanja Vidić, who was later dropped due to lack of evidence.
In April 2010, the prosecution filed an indictment, and the main trial began in January of the following year. Until November 2012, when the last main hearing was held, 19 witnesses were heard and none of them accused any accused.
On November 16, 2012, the President of Serbia, Tomislav Nikolić, absolved Dragan Džajić from criminal prosecution.
Dejan Simić and Vladan Zagrađanin / Suitcase
The Court of Appeal in Belgrade acquitted the former vice-governor of the National Bank of Serbia, Dejan Simić, and the official of the Socialist Party of Serbia, Vladan Zagrađanin, of accepting bribes in order to return the license to Kreditno-Export Bank, that court announced on February 8, 2011.
Simić was arrested on January 11, 2006 on suspicion that he had received a bribe of 100.000 euros in his apartment in Belgrade. The money was in a suitcase, which Zagrađanin brought into Simić's apartment, which is why the case was called the "Suitcase" affair.
The current Minister of Police and SPS President Ivica Dacic was also involved in the whole case. Namely, he came to the apartment of the accused Simić together with Zagrađanin, who brought a suitcase with 100.000 euros, but Dacić left the apartment 15 minutes before the police raid. Later, he said that he was invited to an urgent meeting by the Secretary General of the Government at the time, Dejan Mihailov.
At that time, Aleksandar Vučić, the deputy president of the SNS, said that the acquittal for the "Kofer" affair was scandalous: "That verdict is an image and example of the Serbian judiciary and the Serbian understanding of justice. Shame!", Vučić briefly assessed.
