Insider is TV B92's award-winning investigative journalism programme

How Marko Smuggled Cigarettes

For the first time, the public will be presented with evidence of how Miloševic Junior built a business empire worth millions of euros. Results of the last police investigation on smuggling cigarettes from 2003. held secret to this day are also indicative of that.

Author: Brankica Stankovic

B92: Marko Miloševices' reign of terror from the nineties is still felt today. Many among his acquaintances or schoolmates refused to speak for Insider. The usual excuse was that they were not ready “to go through that hell again”. Still, based on the information we found, in this episode you will hear everything about Marko Miloševic - about his arrogance, lashing out, his wealth and his smuggling ring. No criminal charges against him were brought, and Marko Miloševic today is a free citizen of this country.

The statement of Radomir Markovic, ex-chief of National Security, 2001: “In the aftermath of October 5, upon his request, through legal and regular means, I organized a safe trip out of the country for Marko Miloševic, his wife and child. I did not facilitate moving money to Moscow with the help of National Security service, although I was in a position to. I know that Dragan Karic did that for Miloševic; he took the money to Moscow personally, on a regular “Aeroflot” flight from Belgrade. I think, as Mihalj Kertes informed me, that the sum was two million marks.”

B92: Marko Miloševic, the son of ex-President Slobodan Miloševic, was born in 1974. He became a millionaire while the country was in war, while the nation was becoming ever poorer, and while thousands of people took refuge in this country. Marko grossed millions of marks a month smuggling cigarettes, while in Serbia, that at the time was resolving national issues, average monthly income of doctors or professors was several marks. Wars and hyperinflation marked the period of his adolescence. In such a system, all values were destroyed; therefore, in the early nineties, warriors, thieves, folk singers and criminals became the country’s elite.

Željko Ražnatovic Arkan, as an ultimate authority and a symbol of power, becomes an idol of youth. “Turbo-folk”, arms, gold-digging girls, whiskey and “Marlboro” become status symbols of an age whose darker side is Vukovar, Sarajevo, “Knindže”, “Scorpios” and “Berets”. As it will later turn out, all of the above also had an influence on a son of the most powerful family in the country, the son of Slobodan Miloševic and Mirjana Markovic.

“No One Can Touch Us”, the song by Mitar Miric, becomes a symbol of Miloševices' era for the “Berets” on the front lines, as well as at the airport “Belgrade”, where Marko drove sports cars. Representatives of the government, Yugoslav Air Transportation officials and officials of the airport “Belgrade” awarded him with cups for his good driving.

Slobodan Miloševic, 2000: Everything that my son Marko achieved in life, he did on his own. When he was sixteen, he got a job in Požarevac, because here he could not bare the pressure of being presidents son, or the pressure of the media. He went to our hometown, found a job – he was carrying crates of empty bottles and full bottles for a restaurant for five thousand dinars a month, because that is what he is like; he always wanted to be independent. After that, he raced for several clubs – how do you think I could have helped him with racing?

B92: In the early nineties, when most of the Serbs were literally starving, Marko bragged about ruining expensive cars. He used to say – daddy was mad for the first fifteen ruined cars, after that, he stopped paying attention. Mirjana Markovic also commented her sons modern behavior – my son drives 250 kilometers per hour and sends me pages that he loves me, he showers four times a day, and wonders at the watches with Arabic figures – he started using them only two years ago.

Car races become Marko’s hobby in the early nineties, when he befriended Vlada Kovacevic Tref. This friendship will be Marko’s ticket to the world of cigarette smuggling. At that time, Marko becomes a member of Kovacevices' racing team. Tref buys Marko expensive cars and Marko crashes them in a demonstration of power and force. In return, with the help of his parents, Marko provides him with duty-free shops - a cover for cigarette smuggling.

At the time, according to information we acquired, Tref gave Marko an allowance, but the latter soon grew dissatisfied, as he felt the money was insufficient. Tref’s competitors, such as Dušan Zabunovic, the owner of “MPS”, then offer Marko a percentage, not only an allowance, and that is how, according to one version of a story, a cooperation between Miloševic and Zabunovic came to be. Marko starts making tens of thousands of marks per day. Tref realizes that millions are slipping through his fingers and soon the two reconcile, when Tref offers Marko fifty percent of the profit. The consequence of this new friendship was daily import of cigarette-trucks to Serbia with the help of all government organs that Mirjana Markovic coordinated.

First competitor that felt the power of this new friendship between Marko and Tref was Dušan Zabunovic, whose lucrative duty-free shop on Macedonian border, worth several hundred thousand marks, was demolished. A new one was built on that same spot for company “Interspid”, behind which stood Marko Miloševic. According to one version, Zabunovices’ duty-free shop was demolished because he tried to blackmail Marko when he stopped cooperating and started new business with Tref. Marko complained to his parents who, in turn, required an urgent intervention, and so on that very afternoon, police with dredges demolished “MPS’s” duty-free shop without a court order. According to another version, demolition was ordered after Zabunovic, in 1995, refused to sell his duty-free shop to Marko. Kertes sent dredges and demolished it. Dušan Zabunovic refused an interview with Insider, claiming that there was never a cooperation between him and Marko Miloševic, only problems. “I do not want a war, I live a peaceful life and I do not want to talk about that,” said Zabunovic.

Meanwhile, Marko and Tref’s relationship worsens because the market grew smaller due to Montenegrins that ran the same business beyond Marko. Mirjana Markovic then asks for action against Milo Djukanovic and his people.

The statement of Radomir Markovic, ex-chief of National Security, 2001: “The fact that Marko Miloševic had been closely connected with certain criminal structures in the country and abroad was common knowledge among the police and national security circuits, as well as the fact that through cigarette-smuggling business, he became one of the biggest dealers of that product, with millions in foreign currency revenues.

B92: In the interview given to “Nedeljni telegraf” on February 19, 1997, Bob Radovic, introduced as the king of cigarette smugglers in Montenegro, states: “If you are wondering where cigarettes on the streets of Serbia are coming from, you’d better ask Mister Marko Miloševic. Marko Miloševic is, at the moment, the strongest cigarette dealer in Yugoslavia.”

Twenty-four hours after this interview, Vlada Kovacevic Tref, owner of “Interspid”, was murdered. That murder has not been solved yet.

Borivoje Tanic, Marko Miloševices' best man, for Vojislav Tufegdžices' show, B92, 2001: “Marko did not even sell cigarettes in ‘Madona', he has nothing to do with cigarettes and such taxed goods, I can sign that off, I am even ready to go to jail instead of him, if they prove he worked with cigarettes. Maybe some people did that, and lied that they worked for Marko, but Marko never did.”

B92: Insider’s crew discovered that, since mid-nineties, police ran several investigations on state level, but information they acquired never left police circuits and no criminal charges were brought. According to the information we discovered, right after operation “Saber”, by a special order of Dušan Mihajlovic, another such secret investigation was initiated and code-named “The Net”. The result of that action was the deepest analyses of cigarette smuggling and government’s involvement in that business. A work group, officially formed on June 1 2003, analyzed a period from 1996. to 2000, and cooperated with law enforcement agencies in ten countries. Level of confidentiality was such, that not even Mihajlovices’ deputy Nenad Milic new about its existence. Gathered data was enough for pressing criminal charges. A copy was also made, as the police report claims, for IV municipal DA’s office in Belgrade. That office, however, claims it never received anything like that.

Dušan Mihajlovic was too busy to talk to us about that subject. According to our information, this report was never acted on, and after the change in government, report on cigarette smuggling went to the hands of Dragan Jocic, but the subject remains a taboo. This cigarette smuggling ring included numerous today successful companies and individuals. Insider will elaborate on this subject in detail in one of the following episodes. A reconstruction of an example of Marko Miloševices’ involvement in smuggling, and of a way he earned millions based on Insider's information follows.

“Since 1996, Marko Miloševic heads company ‘Tref Rent-a-car”. Police found out that a company first headed by late Vlada Kovacevic Tref, and then by his wife, Bojana Bajruševic, had a cigarette turnover worth over 76 millions of euros. Cigarettes were bought directly from the manufacturer, or through a number of off-shore companies including ‘Feroglas’ from Lichtenstein, ‘Prima Trading’ from Zurich and ‘BVA’ registered in Delaware, USA. For the six-year period, company ‘Tref’ paid a minimal amount in taxes. Several offshore companies were fictitious dummy-agents for purchasing cigarettes and were used to show quite augmented prices of cigarettes. Income tax was not paid, since all the money the company made in sales remained in foreign banks, in fictitious companies’ accounts. Bojana Bajruševic was authorized for all foreign companies and accounts in Hungary, Switzerland and Slovenia.

At the same time, the money made on illegal trade was being taken out of the country in suitcases. The person responsible for that part was a manager of ‘Tref’ for that period, Vladan Vukin, who most often deposited the money in several accounts opened in ‘Postabank’ in Szeged.”

There were two ways to sell the cigarettes legally.

“Legally imported cigarettes would first go to duty-free shops at the border pass Kelebija. Then they were processed as sold in a duty-free zone. Convoys actually went to customs warehouse in Subotica or to the company’s auto-service shop in Banovo Brdo, and from there to the streets, where the cigarettes were sold for cash.”

Far larger quantities of cigarettes were marketed through ordinary smuggling. During 1996. and 1997, cigarettes came through Bulgaria, with the help of numerous involved customs workers and shipping companies.

“’Inex Global’ company from Cypress, owned by Marko Miloševic, sent a ship ‘Natalemar’ filled with cigarettes to Bulgarian port Burgas. These cigarettes enter Bulgaria on transit; papers show that they are going to company ‘Tref’ from Belgrade. When these cigarettes arrive in trucks to the Serbian border, customs officers file them as furniture and wood products that, supposedly, travel on to Hungary. Cigarettes then enter Serbia. It was checked and established that the furniture filed in customs papers never entered Hungary.

Shipping company “Šop” and many customs officers from the border pass Dimitrovgrad were involved in this business that went on for several years. Police established that customs officer Nikola Smiljanic, in cooperation with brothers Petrov, owners of the shipping company, forged necessary documents used to show that goods other then cigarettes are entering the country.”

According to the findings of law enforcement, government institutions played an important role in cigarette smuggling - Federal Customs Bureau, or Mihalj Kertes, and National Security Agency – firstly Jovica Stanišic, and then Radomir Markovic.

“Data acquired by the police practically confirm a statement of ex-chief of Federal Customs Bureau Mihalj Kertes given on a hearing on April 17 2003. Kertes said that the wife of an ex-president of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Mirjana Markovic often called him and demanded that the goods for company ‘Tref’ enter the country without control. That way, trucks were never controlled, customs officers never dealt with documents, or asked themselves what was, and how much of it, brought into the country. Detailed instructions about border passes and trucks Kertes received from Bojana Bajruševic personally. Kertes most often executed these orders through Lazar Šarac, who was, at the time, manager of Gradina border pass.”

We were not able to contact Bojana Bajruševic, but we will try to get her side of the story in one of the following episodes. Bojana Bajruševic was on the list of people that were banned from European Union and USA for their closeness to the regime. However, Miloševic provided her with a diplomatic passport number 2427, issued by the Internal Affairs Ministry. According to the findings of Croatian intelligence, Bojana had an Italian visa and work permit. They also discovered that Bajruševic contracted all business with ‘TDR’ residing in Slovenia and Italy. Her stays in Rovinj in the official ‘TDR’ villa were documented. Insider found out that Croatian intelligence service also had an interest in Marko Miloševices' business.

“Croatian secret services, working upon orders of high executives, especially Miroslav Tudjman’s, gathered numerous facts on operations of ‘Tvornica duhana Rovinj’, with a goal to gain control over cigarette-smuggling business. They found out that ‘Tvornica’ sells cigarettes to Miloševices’ firm ‘Feroglas’ from Lichtenstein through company ‘Rovita’. Cigarettes were delivered to the duty-free zone Kopar in Slovenia, where they traveled by sea or land to Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo and Bosnia. Croatian service also found out that at that time Jovica Stanišic protected Marko Miloševices’ business. Stanišic even charged some other ‘Tvornica’s’ services, unrelated to Miloševic, through ‘Rovita’. As is documented, that peeved the leadership of Croatian service, as they feared that revealing of such connections could discredit Croatia.”

Serbia was the biggest market for cigarettes. It was calculated that Serbs daily spent more then four million marks on cigarettes, so that market was most fought for after the crash of SFRY. Smuggling cigarettes from Rovinj into Serbia functioned all through the war. Fifty trucks of cigarettes went from Rovinj to Serbia monthly. One truck brought between 300-500.000 thousand marks in profit. Ante Vlahovic, CEO of ‘TDR’, and Miloševic therefore made up to 25 million marks a month. Serbia did not receive a penny out of it, since the cigarettes entered the country free from customs and taxes. The sale went through the network also controlled by Marko Miloševic. For comparison, Ante Vlahovic, whom Marko worked with, today is the richest man in Croatia and his wealth is estimated to 360 million euros.

Milica Gajic, as well as many other people close to Miloševic, refused to talk to Insider. Marko Miloševices’ wife, however, claimed in 2001. that Marko absolutely did not make millions.

Milica Gajic for Vojislav Tufegdžices’ show, B92, June 2001: Marko Miloševic is not a millionaire.

B92: “Is he a rich man?”

Milica Gajic: I do not know what the criteria of wealth are. I cannot answer that question; I do not know what your definition of a rich man is.

According to Radomir Markovic, Dragan Karic personally took the money out of the country for Marko who, supposedly, resides in Moscow.

Genady Sysojev, foreign policy commentator of “Komersant”: “When Russian journalists, Russian press, started investigating that money, they came to the subject of tobacco smuggling and Marko Miloševices’ role in it, so, a series of articles was written; people, journalists even went to Belgrade to investigate, Russian journalists, and afterwards reported about it. The key thesis was that Marko Miloševic held all ends in the tobacco business. Therefore, you could not go wholesale in that business, unless you had some kind of a permission given by Marko Miloševic. People that tried to break loose were either killed like Bokan, or had to leave the country like Subotic and others. So, the main thesis in Russian press concerning the disappearance of these billions, of Miloševices’ money, was that they were made through cigarette smuggling and that Marko Miloševic controlled everything.”

The statement of Radomir Markovic, ex-chief of National Security, 2001: “Political power of the Miloševic-Markovic family and their parties, SPS and JUL, was followed by a constant, enormous economic greed, indirectly facilitated by imposed sanctions. It is a fact that government cigarette-smuggling was the largest source of revenue that covered a deficit in the states budget; Mihalj Kertes knows the most about how these resources were used and spent.”

B92: Witnesses claim that Marko Miloševic chose no means in creating his business empire; he did not shy of usurpation, threats, and blackmail. While citizens of Serbia sold bare necessities in order to survive in the previous decade, in only few years, Marko created a fortune estimated to millions of marks. In Požarevac, aside from disco-club “Madona”, equipped with cutting-edge technology, he also owned a technical goods store “Cybernet”, bakery and a pizzeria, radio station, internet-providing center and a sports and recreation center “Bambyland”. In downtown Belgrade, he opened a luxurious cosmetics store “Scandal”, and had duty-free shops on the borders with Macedonia and Hungary.

Slobodan Miloševic in 2000: I am proud of my son Marko.

Mirjana Markovic, in 2000: We, as a family, do not have a developed sense of material values. Even if we had a chance to get rich, we could not, but even if we had it, we probably would not do it, because that simply is not what we are like. There are families that value material goods, there are people that do not, and we are such people.

B92: One of the examples of usurpation of property is a building owned by the family Kuzmanovic from Požarevac. Until 1945, the house and adjacent premises belonged to Kuzmanovices, as well as the premises occupied by what was commonly known as “Marko Miloševices’ bakery”. Municipal authorities gave a concession for these premises to the company “Angropromet tekstil”. The contract was signed under very strict conditions; the company had no right of disposal or ownership over the premises. Problems started when Marko Miloševic took liking to that store, where he later opened a bakery. Upon his wishes and demands, company “Angropromet tekstil”, although it had no such rights, registered ownership over the premises on January 1 2000, only to be able to sell them to Marko Miloševic.

Vojin Kuzmanovic, owner of nationalized property: The rumor is that Mrs. Miloševic called the court and told them to register the ownership. Of course, I cannot say I know that for a fact, however, some sources from the court claim that people there did not want to do it. However, when Mrs. Markovic intervened, they had to. I was not there, but I can trust people that work in the court.

Anyone remotely familiar with the law can understand how illegal that was; after that, of course, he was the owner until October 5, 2000. When he fled the country, everything fell apart, and that bakery suffered the same faith as all of his stores in Belgrade and Požarevac. However, it was not as destroyed because people here, 10-15 thousand people, knew the bakery was not really his, and that was the only reason it was spared of demolition.

B92: Miloševic family residence is in the heart of old city Požarevac. The estate, a little over half a hectare, is in what used to be an elite neighborhood where many distinguished families lived, including two Serbian vojvodas. Although that area was intended for cultural and historical complex, the family, with a hole-hearted help of municipal government, came into possession of a land that was practically usurped from the real owners. Documents that Insider got show that Marko Miloševices’ house was partly built on the land exclusively intended for a historical complex. In 1981, Mirjana Markovic gets a little less than 12 ares of land, as a present from her aunt. That lot will keep growing year after year. In 1989, Municipality of Požarevac decided to build an ethno-park in that part. For that purpose, they took 32.47 ares from family Jacic. Then, on March 11 1994, Municipality of Požarevac decides to build a cultural and historical complex on that stretch of land. At the time, Slobodan Naumovic gave a bit more then 5 ares solely to Marko Miloševic, and 12 to the city of Požarevac. Marko Miloševic then, in 1998, buys another 13.48 ares on an auction for 388.000 dinars. In several years, family Miloševic came into possession of 0.5 hectares of land, from initial 12 ares, because, as noted in the documents we acquired, the municipality took the that land from the citizens with one explanation and purpose, and then gave that same land to family Miloševic without any explanation.

Miloševices’ arrogance is also documented in transcripts of telephone conversations wiretapped by Croatian intelligence in 1997. and 1998. In the beginning of 1997, during student protests, when average monthly income in Serbia was few dozens of marks, Marko Miloševic moved in the house with a swimming pool.

RECONSTRUCTION BASED ON THE TRANSCRIPT OF TELEPHONE CONVERSATIONS WIRETAPPED BY CROATIAN INTELLIGENCE, PUBLISHED IN 2002. IN CROATIAN MAGAZINE “GLOBUS”

Marko: Do you know that the temperature of water in my pool is 38 degrees?

Sloba: That’s not healthy, you’re a fool.

Marko: You’re right, that sucks, it should be 18, that’s best.

Sloba: It can’t be over 30, don’t be foolish.

Marko: Why not, I’m bathing in 40.

Mira: Tell mommy, what are you doing?

Marko: Mom, this floor heating in the bathroom and everywhere is wonderful, when you walk barefoot, your foot doesn’t freeze, and there is no drought.

B92: Aside from the temperature of water in his pool, at that time, president Miloševic was also concerned with Marko’s decision to undergo plastic surgery of his ears.

Sloba: Marko, my dear, I spoke to a doctor, and I thought about it a little – you shouldn’t do it.

Marko: Hi, dad. I knew that you would…

Sloba: Wait, I want to explain something to you. Do you know why does it look that way to you now? It seems that way because you’re terribly skinny, and every jackass your age looks like that. As soon as you gain a little wait, and stabilize, everything will fit in nicely. It is stupid to violate nature, and on the other hand, you are good looking like your dad, don’t be stupid.

Marko: Dad…

Sloba: I am against it, I am a parent.

Marko: Great, I am for it, and I am an adult.

B92: The reign of family Miloševic-Markovic was also marked by lashing out and arrogance of their son Marko Miloševic. At the time, Požarevac was a forbidden city.

Radojko Lukovic, member of OTPOR: “We are standing on the spot where I was assaulted on May 2. The whole story started across the street, in café “Pasage”, where Marko’s employees from ‘Madona’ abused Dragan Milovanovic Toza, forcing him to sign an application for JUL, and then I came by… I heard that they were abusing him and I deliberately went there and told them – let the man go, he has a right to his own opinion, if he signs up for JUL doesn’t mean that he will vote for you.

I ran and came here, but I couldn’t run anymore, and then they subdued me and started kicking me. I lost consciousness, so I do not remember anything else.”

Momcilo Veljkovic, member of OTPOR: “A white BMW with Podgorica plates arrived, and older brother of Milan Lazic, Saša, came out of it in shorts and with a gun. He ran towards me, crazed, and yelled – I’ll kill you all, motherfuckers, why did you come here, who are you, mercenaries, traitors and scum, and then he approached me. I started calming Laza, I met him before – stop, Laza, we did not come to fight, but to see what’s going on. That didn’t stop him and he hit me several times with the but-end of a gun, and then the strangling started. Milan Lazic stood up and tore my shirt while he strangled me - the OTPOR shirt with the fist. Since my face was bleeding, I automatically started wrestling with him - my survival instinct probably kicked in, and I came to this shop-window and leaned on it. It’s a wonder the glass did not break, since I am as heavy as he is. One of them, I do not know his name, they called him Kareli, big as a bear, huge, grabbed me from the back, and the other one was beating me. My shirt was completely torn and at one point, when I realized that they put the gun to my head, and that it could go off, I braced myself, grabbed the gun, hit Saša Lazic in the head couple of times, he started bleeding, and then I pointed the gun at them like this to scare them, since Radojko Lukovic was also there, and at that time I thought… I could fire, I could kill someone, and I did not want that, so I threw the gun and backed towards… I started running towards ‘Pingvin’, cake-shop ‘Pingvin’… At that point bulletproof “Audi” arrived - later I found out it belonged to the Serbian Government - and Marko Miloševic came out with the gun or an automatic rifle, I don’t know, and he yelled – kill that shit. Fortunately, he did not see me; I went in one apartment building and knocked on the door, asked them to call the police…”

Nebojša Sokolovic, lawyer: “Marko Miloševic broke my supraorbital arch, my nose, injured the base of my scull and inflicted contusions to my body, those were the injuries… Others kicked me in the head and in the chest, face, shoulders… First hit came right here, on this spot, from the back, fist in my temple, and of course, it knocked me down and I don’t remember the rest, I just remember waking up in the hospital.”

B92: Finally, members of OTPOR beaten up by Marko and his crew, ended up in custody and criminal charges were brought against them. Investigating judge released them from remand since there was no attempted murder. However, a day later, Veljkovic is taken into custody anyway.

Momcilo Veljkovic, member of OTPOR: “I could not believe it… First, they let me go, and then this… I feared that they are taking me before a firing squad… You know, what with Curuvija and everything, so I started yelling at them – no, and then Rade Spasic, famous police inspector, came and I said – Rade, what is this, and he said – be quiet, fool, we are saving your life. I was taken into custody on May 8 around 11:30, and kept there until June 30 2000, charged for attempted murder, although that did not happen. It is curious that my indictment was signed by current deputy DA Dmitar Krstov, who dropped the charges against Marko Miloševic…”

Miroslav Miloševic, photographer from Požarevac, Marko’s people beat up because magazines “Vreme” and “Srpska rec” published his photographs of Marko Miloševic.

Miroslav Miloševic, photographer: “That photo was not provocative… some details from Marko’s birthday, here in ‘Rolex’, then something from opening of ‘Madona’ and one photo was on the cover of ‘Srpska rec’ showing a calf and a celebration; Vlada Tref bought that calf for Marko for opening of ‘Madona’ and then they went crazy with it all over town with an orchestra. That was an attraction in the city, even better than a dancing bear, so I photographed it as a city photographer; I did not mean to ridicule him, but… he, as a public figure should be aware that everything that goes on is public. Then that calf was on the front page, over it a poster for ‘Madona’, and they complained – why put a calf there, and there also was a line: ‘JUL, calves and jackasses’. Journalists wrote that, not me, the texts were not mine, but I guess I had to pay for all of it.

On this exact spot, I felt a hit on my neck, and a cold barrel of a gun, another hit to the head, pushing, shuffling… fear, panic, darkness… In the dark, any strange sound scares you. Somewhere near, five steps away, I saw Milica Gajic laughing while I was covered in blood and her uncle Milenkovic Dragan called Cica; he was a doctor, and he did not help me. They either heard a noise, or came on purpose, I don’t know, but the point is that she laughed hysterically while I was covered in blood. After that, I see her on TV lying that no one did anything, that Marko wouldn’t hurt a fly…”

B92: When Belgrade’s “Glas javnosti” published that Slobodan Miloševic became a grandfather, Marko, for reasons completely unknown, burst in their offices and threatened Milan Mijailovic, a journalist that published this news, with a gun.

Milica Gajic, June 2001: I blame the media for painting such a picture of Marko. Obviously, they had only one mission during these years, and that mission was to turn Marko, to turn president’s son into some wanton young man that walks around town, beats people up and misbehaves. That, naturally, is not the truth; Marko and I are together for eight years and I’m fully entitled to say that that is not true, because I think I know him the best.

B92: Information from people close to Radomir Markovic reveal that Marko also mistreated the former chief of National Security. Initially, Radomir Markovic actually was Miloševices’ special bodyguard. Sources close to the family explain that Mirjana Markovic, fearing the war and appearance of the mob on the streets of Belgrade, asked the Ministry of Internal Affairs to assign somebody to take care of Marko, but somebody connected to the police and National Security. That is how they chose Radomir Markovic. That is the exact reason for his later appointment as chief of National Security. While Radomir Markovic was chief of NS, Marko Miloševices’ new hobby were guns, since Markovic often took him hunting – favorite pastime for members of National Security.

RECONSTRUCTION BASED ON A TRANSCRIPT OF PHONE CONVERSATIONS WIRETAPPED BY CROATIAN INTELLIGENCE AND PUBLISHED IN 2002. IN CROATIAN MAGAZINE “GLOBUS”

Conversation between Marko Miloševic and a member of NS: Marko Miloševic: “Guys, I was shooting before any of you joined the service.”

Member of NS: “That is not shooting, that is a matter of intelligence, and not fired bullets. You’d have to be a total idiot not to learn anything with so much ammo.”

Marko Miloševic: “Let me tell you one thing – I got a 45 again, I shoot without a bullet in the barrel and without a holster, you know, I keep it my belt. Do you know that with 45 I shoot every other bullet without a bullet in the barrel when the signal is given and before the other one pulls it from the holster. Listen, I’m not saying I’m great at it, if there are a lot of bullets, of course, but still, that counts as a hit.”

B92: During the bombing in 1999, Marko Miloševic walked around Požarevac wearing a black uniform accompanied by several men as a self-imposed commander of the city. At the time, citizens of Požarevac used to see Marko and his fellow soldiers mostly on anti-war demonstrations dressed in black overalls without any insignia or rank. In Mirjana Markovices’ book “Heart Is Also on the Left”, on page 133, there is a large color-photo of Marko Miloševic from April 1999, taken in Požarevac, where an official Serbian police badge, number 014119, is visible on his black overalls, on the left side of his chest.

Slobodan Miloševic, 2000: My son Marko wore a uniform and carried a gun for an entire duration of the war. I’d like to hear where, at the time, were some of their leaders and their sons and children.

Marko Miloševic, 1999: “At this point, we have to defend our homeland in any way and under any conditions. I expect us to win, as we will.”

B92: Insider found out that, during the bombing, Marko Miloševic was a member of National Security’s operational-pressing group. Members of the same group for Belgrade were Ljubiša Buha Cume and Zoran Šljukic Šljuka. Statement of Zoran Vukojevic Vuk, a protected witness, says a lot about Marko Miloševices' connections with criminal clan. During the trial for the murder of Serbian prime minister, he stated for the court that after October 5 Marko Miloševic offered money for the murder of Zoran Djindjic and that Djindjices’ security was, on an initiative of Milorad Ulemek, then heightened.

Protected witness Zoran Vukojevic Vuk: “About fifteen days after Marko Miloševic, at that period, offered five million for Djindjices’ murder.”

Lawyer: “I did not hear that well.”

President of the Court’s Council: “Marko Miloševic offered five million to kill Djindjic.”

B92: Although protected witness stated before the court and the defenders that Marko Miloševic offered money for the murder of Serbian prime minister, no one present in the court room paid attention to such claims, and no investigation was initiated. After October 5, Marko left Serbia. Members of OTPOR had an opportunity to see him again that day, since he, as they say, came to the premises of DOS to apologize for the mistreatment of members of OTPOR by his men.

Mile Veljkovic, journalist: “When I heard that he went to DOS – I was in a restaurant – I ran there and saw him and two guys with short haircuts. One of them I knew, and he said – hello, and I said hello, and Marko looked at me and said – get away from me, traitor. That’s how our encounter ended, and that night, he fled Požarevac in panic; citizens were chasing him in jeeps, but he managed to reach Crni Vrh at Žagubica and Dubašnica, from where helicopter later took him to Belgrade. Then he left the country with fake identifications.”

Genady Sysojev, foreign policy commentator for “Komersant”: “He flew to Moscow after October 6, a day after October developments, and from there he, with his wife and child, went on straight to China. However, there they had some visa problems, as was officially explained, so they sent him back from Beijing to Moscow. At that time, everybody was already saying that young Miloševic fled and that he wants to hide in Russia, so many local and foreign news crews went to ‘Sheremetyevo’ to wait for the plane from Beijing. However, Marko was not on the plane; to be exact, he wasn’t among the passengers that left the plane. However, it was very well known that he left Beijing; therefore, he couldn’t parachute out. As I found out later, the car picked him up directly from the airport runway and took him somewhere, as was confirmed by the people connected to Yugoslav embassy from that period that, allegedly, was involved in all of it. That’s when Marko Miloševic officially disappears without a trace.”

B92: Marko Miloševic had four diplomatic passports; he got two of them by 1997, and two more in 1998. and 2000. These passports were the cause for an investigation initiated in 2001. against Milan Milutinovic and Živadin Jovanovic, ministers of foreign affairs for the aforementioned periods, under suspicion that they unlawfully issued identifications to the son of a president of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. At the time of the investigation, both officials had diplomatic immunity from criminal prosecution. Today, however, authorities do not have an answer to why that investigation was not finished.

Milica Gajic, June 2001: Marko and I never believed that we would have to flee the country when Slobodan Miloševices’ presidency ends. We did not believe it and no one could persuade us. Why does it have to be – either you are a president, or you are a prisoner? Either we are the presidential family, or we are persecuted. You know, that is not a normal situation, or normal circumstances. Anywhere in the world, someone is a president, and then he’s not and that’s it. I have to say that none of us thought that he would be president for hundred years and that we will be a presidential family forever. First of all, we were not born into it, but it’s horrible that, at the very moment when his presidency ended, a witch-hunt against us started and our lives turned into hell.

Borivoje Tanic, Marko Miloševices’ best man: “That situation is very complicated and difficult. Marko is only afraid of that injustice; he saw what happened to his father and he’s afraid that the same will happen to him, because the media campaign led against Miloševic is led against Marko, too, and that’s the only thing that scares him. Railroading, lies and all that… Marko will prove his innocence himself.”

B92: For six years, members of OTPOR are trying to get justice in courts for violent behavior of Marko Miloševic and his friends.

Nebojša Sokolovic, member of OTPOR: “There are, from the top of my head, around sixty cases. Only two ended with effective verdicts; of course, prosecution’s motion was denied, for members of OTPOR, for a kid from Dubravica, Manic Nemanja, and an explanation of a second-degree court was that he was too young to suffer traumas. If it were not so terrible, that would be sad. That explanation can make you cry.”

Momcilo Veljkovic, member of OTPOR: “Marko Miloševic is avoiding court in all possible ways, although he is already guilty and he committed a worse felony then the one in the Chainsaw case, where he was chief initiator. Of course, we are pursuing justice till the end; the statute of limitations expires in 2010.”

“Hearings are being delayed for five-six months for many different reasons. It goes on like that for four years now, and nobody does anything. And what Zoran Milovanovic did goes to show that an action for the protection of the Miloševic family and its most extreme member Marko Miloševic is in progress.”

B92: Interpol’s warrant for Marko Miloševic has been issued during operation “Saber”, based on an indictment brought against him for threatening Zoran Milovanovic with a chainsaw. Charges were, however, dropped, although the first-degree verdict convicted Marko of six months in prison. Indictment was dropped by deputy DA Dmitar Krstev because Zoran Milovanovic suddenly, several years later, changed a statement given to that same deputy DA claimimg that Marko Miloševic did not threaten, but defended him. We will remind you of Milovanovices’ previous claims.

Zoran Milovanovic, June 2001: “They took me in Marko Miloševices’ office, told me to turn to the wall and started beating me with clubs. They hit me on the back with the gun and yelled – here’s your resistance (OTPOR). Suddenly, Marko Miloševic appeared with a ‘Stihl’ chainsaw in his hand, switched it on and waved it ten centimeters from my head.”

B92: While Zoran Milovanovic claimed that he was not bribed to forget Marko Miloševices’ threats, and Democratic Party of Serbia that this development is not a part of the deal with SPS, statements of minister Velimir Ilic show that such rumors are not without merit. Few days later, he said that he advised Milovanovic to be a Christian and forgive Marko Miloševic.

Velimir Ilic, minister in Serbian government, 2005: If Marko Miloševic officially did not do anything illegal in his life except for slapping Zoran Milovanovic around, than any further discussion is pointless. Many murders were committed at that time – Tref, Badža, minister of defense, CEO of YAT, then cigarette smuggling, drugs, all that was going on, street fights, brothers Fiškali in Požarevac, all that misery and misfortune. And all that boiled down to charges pressed by Zoran Milovanovic, a financially disadvantaged boy.”

B92: “But now we don’t even have that.”

Velimir Ilic, minister in Serbian government, 2005: “Then we shouldn’t have it, if we don’t have everything else.”

B92: Democratic Party asked for minister of justice Zoran Stojkovices’ resignation, claiming that the Democratic Party of Serbia made a deal with SPS. Serbian Revival Party, one of the parties in the ruling coalition, issued a statement that the authorities are responsible for dropping the indictment and concluded that, if they keep that up, entire family Miloševic will be brought back to Serbia and welcomed with a red carpet, but that Serbian Revival Party will not attend.

Taking into consideration a withdrawn indictment against Marko Miloševic, cancelled warrant against Mirjana Markovic, abandoned criminal prosecution of Milovan Bojic, Branislav Uskokovic and others, a completely justified question arises – could it be that people from Miloševices’ regime with their illegally earned money still control Serbian political scene?

While the authorities are silent, the answer lies in the fact that Vojislav Koštunica’s minority government is supported by Socialist Party of Serbia, whose president still is Slobodan Miloševic.