Dead man who votes

For eleven years, Milan Milovac managed to live in Ecuador as a ghost. Unnoticed. But from November 13, 2020 to January 12, 2021, he walked like a death row inmate. According to the criminal complaint, he was put on the kill list by the clan of which he was a member - Darko Šarić's clan.

The last sixty days of his life became a puzzle; however, this is nothing compared to the mystery of his hidden activities in Guayaquil, the main port of Ecuador.

Sentenced to eleven years on drug charges, Milovac escaped prison in Serbia. Although Interpol was on his trail, he landed in Guayaquil after 2009.

The timing was perfect for him. In fact, the Ecuadorian authorities dismantled the migration control scheme. Namely, Rafael Correa won the presidential elections in 2007 and convinced the voters to convene a national assembly to change the Constitution adopted in 2008. This Constitution created the status of "universal citizenship", accepting everyone, without exception; visas have been abolished as a condition for entering the country. By presidential decree in 2010, the Ministry of Internal Affairs became the legal representative of the National Police. As a consequence, in 2012, the civil servants of this ministry took over the control of migration at the airports. Security was not a priority, nor was the use of technology to prevent visitors with criminal records from arriving.

Milovac took advantage of this benevolent atmosphere towards foreign visitors. He was given a false identity as a citizen of Ecuador with the name Marko Patricio Marković Gomez. Although he was born in 1974, his Ecuadorian identity card says that he is five years younger, that is, that he was born in 1979.

He obtained an Ecuadorian identity card illegally, and there is no doubt that he paid for the service in cash. His fingerprints do not match the information shown on the index card in the registry office. This was determined after his death in January 2021. By the way, his documents state that he was single.

According to official investigations in Eastern Europe, Milovac was the local representative of the Serbian cocaine cartel headed by drug lord Darko Saric. Also, he had experience dealing with Colombian drug dealers from the time he worked for an Italian criminal organization. That's why he spoke Spanish. From Guayaquil, he was in charge of dealings with Colombian cocaine dealers, probably based in the Andean city of Pasto. Then, to send drugs through the port of Guayaquil, in containers with fresh food for export. Reports indicate that at the beginning of 2020, Sarić was informed by his close associate Petar Ćosić that Milovac had started working independently. Sarić understood this as betrayal and ordered the ghost from Ecuador to be killed.

LIFE IN ECUADOR

Milovac did not know that the death sentence had been handed down to him in Belgrade, where Šarić was in custody for drugs.

Under the guise of a successful entrepreneur, Milovac has been living as Marko Patricio Marković Gomez since 2020 in a rented villa in the exclusive area of ​​Camino del Rio, which is located not far from the highway between Guayaquil and Samborondon. Private security guards the entrance to this area; only residents have a tagging device that allows access to one of the 150 luxury villas, some of which are valued at more than $400. The monthly rent is close to two thousand dollars. Milovac lived alone, and was often visited by his girlfriend and, finally, by a friend who is a businessman in the construction sector. His circle of friends was small. Local investigations suggest that he often sat alone at local pubs.

The official institution that controls companies (Superintendencia de Companias) has no record of Milovac or Markovic as an owner, manager or shareholder of any company in Ecuador. Official tax national office (Internal rents service) registers him as a donor. However, the only tax he paid in five years was the currency outflow tax. The amount is ridiculous: 70 cents in 2019. His income tax data shows zero, and the economic activity corresponding to 2021 has not yet been reported.

"This case shows the weakness of the money laundering control system in Ecuador," the expert said in a statement to this report.

Local rules oblige financial organizations to report unusual and unjustified transactions when amounts exceed $10. Milovac knew how to stay under the radar. It was not complicated anyway in a country where in the last seven years only one money laundering sentence has been imposed. The judicial system is also weak, vulnerable and corrupt.

That Milovac was living under a false identity, the authorities in Ecuador noticed only after his death, when his family sent a copy of his passport showing his real name, Milan Milovac, of Croatian nationality.

Ironically, Ecuadorian Marco Patricio Markovic Gomez was still allowed to vote in the elections held in Ecuador on Sunday, February 5, 2023.

At that time, 13,4 million voters had the right to elect local authorities for cities (mayors), provinces (counties) and municipal council members. Also, a referendum was held on the same date. The paradox is huge. Milovac, an alleged drug trafficker who has been dead for two years, can still vote in the town of Empalme, Guayas province, in booth number 42 of a school. This territory is a hotspot for gangs linked to Mexican and Balkan cartels. This case shows that in Ecuador ghosts vote in elections and have political rights.

Milan Milovac, with the fake name Marko Patricio Marković Gomez, is still able to vote in the 2023 election process, according to this search of the Ecuadorian system. Search date: Thursday, February 2, 2023.

THE MAN WHO LIVED TWICE

"I am planning to send a juvenile sicario (contracted killer), so that after the murder (of Milovac), if he is caught, the young sicario will easily get out of prison."

According to the prosecutor's documents, that message was sent to Darko Šarić on a cell phone with the Sky application by one of the associates. It is clear that Milovac's assassins were fully aware of the judicial weaknesses in Ecuador. These chats, encrypted by the Sky platform, were known to Serbian authorities when cocaine lord Darko Šarić was arrested again in April 2022, on charges of being the head of a drug trafficking organization. At that moment, the investigators realized that the criminal report shows that Šarić ordered the murder of Milovac.

Milovac, with false documents called Marković, was lucky to survive twice. The first attack on him took place on Friday, November 13, 2020. Until 13:4 p.m., Milovac was driving his white SUV 4x911 Ford Explorer, when two motorcycle-borne sicarios got close enough to shoot him twice. He received injuries in the neck and left shoulder. He lost control of the car and hit a pole. The emergency system, ECU XNUMX, transported the wounded to a private hospital in Guayaquil.

Thirteen days after the shooting, the killers were in a panic. They wrote that "the son of a bitch has 24-hour detention" and that - if necessary - they would have to kill him and the guards. On the last day of November, the hitmen were ready to "finish the job", as stated in the chats.

Colombian citizen Hurley Perlaza entered a private clinic on December 5, 2020, using a false identity. The identity card corresponded to Ecuadorian citizen Johnny Piguave. The police caught him with two mobile phone chips and two different identifications. He stated that he only came to warn Milovac to keep his mouth shut. The police believed that he was trying to kill Milovac.

Twenty-four hours later, information about a new unsuccessful operation arrived in Serbia. "One of the boys was detained at the police station, but he is clean, he had no weapon, no mobile phone, he was caught for using a fake document."

Initially, Perlaza was convicted of attempted murder and imprisoned in a prison in Guayaquil. Surprisingly, the prosecutor found no hard evidence to support the theory of the crime and the charges were reformulated: Perlaza was convicted of using a false document. Ten months later, he was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

Perlaza accepted the charges, so this was a short trial. He is free today.

The local investigation reveals that Milovac was conscious in the hospital. He was interviewed by the police on December 8 and he assured them that he had no enemies. He could not sign the statement, so this document was made official with his fingerprint. Seven days later, police investigators conducted a risk analysis. The hypothesis of his involvement in criminal drug activities was then justified. As a result, he was included in the National Victims and Witnesses Program, which is run by the State Prosecutor's Office.

His girlfriend, Daniela Zamora, informed local authorities on December 21 that he had voluntarily resigned from his protected status. Allegedly, everything was arranged for him to travel to Europe.

Everything indicates that Zamora installed a medical facility in the villa and hired a staff service. By 18pm on Monday 11 January 2021, the patient had left the private hospital and was sent home. Nine hours later (by 3 a.m. the next day), ECU-911 received a call. The ambulance took him back to the same hospital he had left hours before. He was pronounced dead on arrival.

The official autopsy document was released on January 12 at 6 a.m. Scars were found on the back of the head, on the back of the left shoulder, and a third injury was noted: "There is a 10-centimeter surgical scar in the abdominal epigastrium."

The investigator, who wished to remain anonymous, said the assumption that "the job was over" when he was at home cannot be ruled out.

The case was opened in Ecuador, but under a veil of secrecy. In January, Croatian judicial authorities requested official information about the progress in this investigation, through the Criminal Assistance system. The investigation into the murder of Milovac is still being conducted by the prosecution and the police in Serbia as well.