One fine spring day in London (Hester st.) or in Zagreb (Prekrižje) "successful international lobbyist and expert in business intelligence" Ratko Knežević woke up, looked at his watch "Odemar pige tourbillon No. 2" (he paid $40.000 for it and now it's worth at least $150.000) and saw the hours. He put on his monogrammed "Eddie Monetti" shirt (he's been ordering them for 20 years) and fastened the cuffs with one of a set of gold buttons (gifts from Clinton and Bush), slipped into one of the 50 suits that are made for him in Milan, put on or casual shoes by Diego de la Valle, or classic Ralph Lauren, sat down in the "Audi" RS6 ("Porsche Cheyenne" he prefers to leave to his wife) and went to think. By the way: all the data is from Zagreb's "Nacional" from March 2005, from a rather sad eulogy to Ratko, the best friend of the late Ivo Pukanić, the owner of that weekly, and from the exalted pen of a certain Viktor Zahtila.
Let's get serious. In these past few weeks, Ratko Knežević threw himself into giving interviews: first to Podgorica's "Vijesti" and then to Belgrade's "Blic", media he was not normally inclined to; "National" is another. It can be assumed with certainty that something itched for Ratko Knežević; that he suddenly felt the need to speak preemptively; before they start asking him. The reason for the preventive action could also be the somewhat imprudent publication in "Nacional" of Pukanić's statement from Trieste to prosecutor Šelzi, which we wrote about. Namely, the late Ivo Pukanić praised Šelzija Ratko Knežević more than Zahtila from "Nacional". Since these are serious matters, these claims were investigated and various people recalled various things. Apparently, Ratko Knežević told Ivo Pukanić all sorts of things, which the latter took for granted and repeated to Šelzia; so Ratko turned out to be a knight and a fearless fighter against the tobacco mafia, a confidant of Robert Gelbard and Madeleine Albright, an innocent victim of perfidious Albion and their customs police, etc. We have already said that Giuseppe Schelzi did not seem impressed. Now we see why.
THE ROLE OF TONY BLAIR: So, first of all, Ratko Knežević has no participation in any British company, nor a directorship; one of his directorships was terminated; the data are from the British commercial register (Company House). So much for a start. Then: according to the Russian weekly "Versija" from June 2002 and the research articles of colleague Yevgeni Krutikov, Ratko Knežević appears in 1995-1996. in Moscow, where he was deeply involved in the illegal import of cigarettes into the Russian Federation, but also in some dealings with Russian surplus weapons. He is in a relationship with Hrvoj Petrač, a notorious Croatian gangster, who at the time was trying to diversify his business and enter the arms trade. According to "Versia" and Krutikov, there was a combination on the line Russia - "Đuro Đaković" from Slavonski Brod - Middle East, and on the subject of tanks M-72 and M-84, and where some Bosnians, Egyptians also had their sticky fingers , Malaysians and others. The currency on offer was shiploads of counterfeit cigarettes from the big tobacco multinationals. "Versija" claims that Ratko Knežević rejected those accusations by claiming that "you are dealing with the future president of Montenegro." The matter ended in Moscow so that - according to "Versije" and after checking on the spot - Ratko Knežević disappeared from a certain five-star hotel without paying the bill of 15.000 dollars. The later course of research by "Versije" pointed to the connections of the persons: JTI, Wolf Minic and his team, Cypriot businessman Andreas Neofidou, but also a whole series of mickey mouse companies from Cyprus and the Middle East (IBCS Ise Aude, Europijen Tobacco) were in contact with Knežević Nazira Khan, Imperial Tobacco, Prima Trading Ventures of the famous Jankowski brothers from the Virgin Islands, Albatronics Ekrema Luke, Ferroglas from Liechtenstein etc.). Cigarettes arrived in Russia either via Turkey and Iraq, or via the Baltics, or via Ukraine (large quantities were seized). Trucks full of falsified brands of cigarettes also went from Germany through the Baltic to Georgia; with fake papers. There are too many examples. "Versija" finally claims that Ratko Knežević and Velimir Ilić agreed to build the famous cigarette factory in Čačak, but they failed.
The careful reader will remember that Pukanić lamented to Giuseppe Šelzi about the sad fate of Ratko Knežević in Britain: that he was persecuted there neither guilty nor guilty because of some police uniforms for the MUP of Montenegro. Things, as it appears from the pages of the London newspapers of the time, are somewhat different. The weekly "Times" of March 23, 1999 reports on "the anger of customs officials due to political pressure to drop the 22 charges against Ratko Knežević." Therefore, it is not about Štrpci and Sjeverin, as Pukanić told Šelzi, and Knežević - obviously - Pukanić. It's about something else: British customs accused Knežević of violating UN and EU sanctions, because he "used his companies in London and Switzerland to smuggle around five million pounds worth of weapons and military equipment, including armored vehicles, holsters for cartridges, 30 cryptographically protected radio devices, 15 also protected fax machines, three speedboats, etc." British customs arrested him in 1997, after he quarreled with Đukanović and returned from Washington to London; he was released on bail and got lost; then, in 1999, there was a warrant for him. The reason for the anger of the British customs officers was the political intervention of the then Prime Minister Tony Blair in Knežević's favor. The weekly "Times" says that this intervention is the result of Blair's talks with Milo Djukanovic.
RISE OF TEMPERATURE: Well, let's go back to Knežević's interviews. He didn't say anything about cigarette smuggling that we hadn't known for years. Jovica Stanišić financed his Udba? Good morning! Melting politicians? Also. Vučela carried money from Canet to Jovica and still installed himself? Don't. And so on. What caused the biggest sensation this summer (Summertime, when life is easy) was his claim that Boris Tadić's life was in danger, because the tobacco mafia was targeting him. That's what Knežević heard Stipe Mesić say to Tadić. Stipe Mesić immediately denied that story and specified: yes, they were talking about cross-border organized crime and he informed Tadić about the state of affairs. By the way, the Ministry of Interior of Serbia has been comparing all these data with the Ministry of Interior of Croatia on a regular basis for a very long time; police directors, crime police chiefs and operatives are in daily contact. Therefore, Mesić could not tell Tadić anything that was not already known.
But Ratko Knežević, amused about his misery on - as we hear - a certain yacht in the Adriatic and in an interesting company of security-interesting persons, has to raise the price for himself, if only as a savior of Tadić's head. Of course, there will be enough courtiers to join that heroic effort and to protect Boris Tadić even more. Namely, rational analysis cannot find an answer to the question of motive: why would someone from the tobacco mafia, as Knežević claims, threaten Boris Tadić? The "Network" case at the Special Court is not promising; all this was back in 1996 (while Ratko was also hanging around Moscow); Cane Subotic seems calm. By the way: we still haven't heard who Caneta is and how he was released from extradition detention in Moscow, and Ratko says he knows. The cigarette trade has long gone in completely different directions and is no longer similar to the happy times of the nineties. Serbia is nowhere to be found: Pecconi has calmed down and is also working; multinationals are satisfied. There are no pretenders to Canet's throne, and he is no longer interested in the matter either - at least as much as it was then. Only Ratko Knežević is itching for something.
