Delta owner accuses LDP leader of role in kidnapping

Delta Holding CEO Miroslav Miskovic has accused Cedomir Jovanovic of taking part in his 2001 kidnapping. Jovanovic, now the leader of the Liberal-Democrats (LDP) and a vocal critic of Miskovic, was then a Democratic Party (DS) official and a close aide to late Prime Minster Zoran Djindjic. Delta owner accuses LDP leader of role in kidnapping This is the first time in six years that Serbia's wealthiest man has spoken about his ordeal. Members of the criminal Zemun Clan gang, also involved in the Djindjic assassination and a number of other serious crimes, have officially been accused of the abduction, but a previous verdict was overturned and the case has been sent for retrial. Miskovic addressed Jovanovic in a letter sent to Beta news agency today, entitled, "If the time is right for the truth, here it is." "Do you use your attacks today to forestall all the testimonies about everything we know – why your hands are dirty, while your conscience is clear – or are your attacks another attempt to place me in a manhole, and for the second time demand ransom from me, my family and my company," the letter said. "Is it true what the front pages of the newspapers are saying, that you have taken five million [Deutsche] marks from Dejan Milenkovic Bagzi as part of the blood money from my kidnapping. If you did take this money, who did you share it with and in what way," Miskovic asked Jovanovic in his letter, addressing the LDP leader in the second person singular throughout. Miskovic was abducted on April 9, 2001, and was released the next day, after the equivalent of EUR 3mn – some 7mn marks – in ransom was paid. Daily Kurir today published a story, based on statements of an unnamed MUP operative, that Milenkovic, a Zemun Gang member turned protected witness in the Djindjic murder trial, gave Jovanovic five million marks immediately after the kidnapping, while the gang's leaders, Milorad Ulemek, a.k.a. Legija, now serving 40 years in prison, and Dusan Spasojevic, killed in a showdown with police shortly after Djindjic's murder, took half a million each, with the rest divided among the organized crime group members. Miskovic said in his letter that he was kidnapped "by a group of policemen and gangsters who carried the Milosevic-era State Security badges." "From the [Kurir] article I gather that they only changed their partner in state office. Back then I did not believe the then minister of the interior, Dusan Mihajlovic, when he swore that my kidnappers were often visited in jail by Cedomir Jovanovic," the letter reads. "I rejected Mihajlovic's estimate, which turned out to be a prophecy, that the kidnappers would soon after be set free with the help from Jovanovic. But to my horror, this happened." The Delta owner says he decided not to speak about the subject when those involved in his abduction left prison, and added he never spoke even when then PM Djindjic invited him for a meeting. "I know what the prime minister told me about the kidnapping, the payment and the distribution of money. I was a witness to his bitterness at not having been able to pull a young, close associate of his away from the mafia by any means, including threats of ending the friendship and severing contacts," Miskovic says. He then asks Jovanovic if he was in any way involved in his imprisonment as well, and whether he gave permission, direction or guarantees of immunity to the criminals, "if, as the second person of the regime, he admits to having visited the Zemun Clan and being friendly with the mafia heads." "You have admitted to having visited the Zemun Clan leaders in prison. If you knew they were there because of my kidnapping, and 75 other felonies, why did you visit them? If you did visit them, did you influence the prosecutor and the court to release them?" Zemun gangsters Dusan Spasojevic, Mile Lukovic, Milos Simovic, Aleksandar Simovic, and Vladimir Milisavljevic were arrested in May 2001, but were released by the end of that year. "If you set them free, were you aware that they might do the same thing to me again, or to any other man, and you know full well who I mean, who tried to confront them," Miskovic asks Jovanovic, wondering also if he influenced the fact that court proceedings into the case "simply died out", and colluded to obscure the truth and remove evidence. "How can it be that 100,000 policemen were unable to catch two leaders of the Zemun Clan alive, even if they had to hold them under siege for a month, so that we may find out the names of their political partners, so that I may find out who was involved in my kidnapping, so that Serbia may find out who laid judgment on her prime minister." Miskovic says at the end of the letter that he "paid his dues and spent all his fears." "I have survived what few people have. I have lived to see the day when recent history can be spoken about without fear. All I ask is for everyone's guilt and responsibility to be determined in court, not by public lynching of opponents," the letter says. "I know what it's like to be a hostage of politics and mafia, I know what it's like for myself and my company to be lynched. They can insult me, but no one will ever again kidnap me or subject me to racketeering. This is my debt to those who have refused to keep silent." The LDP reacted to the grave accusations today on behalf of its leader by saying that Jovanovic will "gladly help Mr. Miskovic tell his truth about Cedomir Jovanovic, in court, after he did it in mafia media." "At the same time we suggest that he runs in the elections, alone or as part of a coalition of war criminals, war profiteers and war politicians, all those who helped him build his company and destroy our country." "We think he is more likely to convince citizens to live in Delta, than us to answer nonsensical questions, that he uses to underline a campaign he has been conducting for years, aimed against essential changes in the country," the LDP statement said. "We believe Mr. Miskovic is aware that, unlike everything else, there is no monopoly on truth. If he forgot this in his might, we remind him that many whom he quotes today have tried this and failed, from Milosevic to Legija," the party statement ends.

Delta owner accuses LDP leader of role in kidnapping

This is the first time in six years that Serbia's wealthiest man has spoken about his ordeal. Members of the criminal Zemun Clan gang, also involved in the Đinđić assassination and a number of other serious crimes, have officially been accused of the abduction, but a previous verdict was overturned and the case has been sent for retrial.

Mišković addressed Jovanović in a letter sent to Beta news agency today, entitled, "If the time is right for the truth, here it is."

"Do you use your attacks today to forestall all the testimonies about everything we know – why your hands are dirty, while your conscience is clear – or are your attacks another attempt to place me in a manhole, and for the second time demand ransom from me, my family and my company," the letter said.

"Is it true what the front pages of the newspapers are saying, that you have taken five million [Deutsche] marks from Dejan Milenković Bagzi as part of the blood money from my kidnapping. If you did take this money, who did you share it with and in what way," Mišković asked Jovanović in his letter, addressing the LDP leader in the second person singular throughout.

Mišković was abducted on April 9, 2001, and was released the next day, after the equivalent of EUR 3mn – some 7mn marks – in ransom was paid.

Daily Kurir today published a story, based on statements of an unnamed MUP operative, that Milenković, a Zemun Gang member turned protected witness in the Đinđić murder trial, gave Jovanović five million marks immediately after the kidnapping, while the gang's leaders, Milorad Ulemek, a.k.a. Legija, now serving 40 years in prison, and Dušan Spasojević, killed in a showdown with police shortly after Đinđić's murder, took half a million each, with the rest divided among the organized crime group members.

Mišković said in his letter that he was kidnapped "by a group of policemen and gangsters who carried the Milošević-era State Security badges."

"From the [Kurir] article I gather that they only changed their partner in state office. Back then I did not believe the then minister of the interior, Dušan Mihajlović, when he swore that my kidnappers were often visited in jail by Čedomir Jovanović," the letter reads.

"I rejected Mihajlović's estimate, which turned out to be a prophecy, that the kidnappers would soon after be set free with the help from Jovanović. But to my horror, this happened."

The Delta owner says he decided not to speak about the subject when those involved in his abduction left prison, and added he never spoke even when then PM Đinđić invited him for a meeting.

"I know what the prime minister told me about the kidnapping, the payment and the distribution of money. I was a witness to his bitterness at not having been able to pull a young, close associate of his away from the mafia by any means, including threats of ending the friendship and severing contacts," Mišković says.

He then asks Jovanović if he was in any way involved in his imprisonment as well, and whether he gave permission, direction or guarantees of immunity to the criminals, "if, as the second person of the regime, he admits to having visited the Zemun Clan and being friendly with the mafia heads."

"You have admitted to having visited the Zemun Clan leaders in prison. If you knew they were there because of my kidnapping, and 75 other felonies, why did you visit them? If you did visit them, did you influence the prosecutor and the court to release them?"

Zemun gangsters Dušan Spasojević, Mile Luković, Miloš Simović, Aleksandar Simović, and Vladimir Milisavljević were arrested in May 2001, but were released by the end of that year.

"If you set them free, were you aware that they might do the same thing to me again, or to any other man, and you know full well who I mean, who tried to confront them," Mišković asks Jovanović, wondering also if he influenced the fact that court proceedings into the case "simply died out", and colluded to obscure the truth and remove evidence.

"How can it be that 100,000 policemen were unable to catch two leaders of the Zemun Clan alive, even if they had to hold them under siege for a month, so that we may find out the names of their political partners, so that I may find out who was involved in my kidnapping, so that Serbia may find out who laid judgment on her prime minister."

Mišković says at the end of the letter that he "paid his dues and spent all his fears."

"I have survived what few people have. I have lived to see the day when recent history can be spoken about without fear. All I ask is for everyone's guilt and responsibility to be determined in court, not by public lynching of opponents," the letter says.

"I know what it's like to be a hostage of politics and mafia, I know what it's like for myself and my company to be lynched. They can insult me, but no one will ever again kidnap me or subject me to racketeering. This is my debt to those who have refused to keep silent."

The LDP reacted to the grave accusations today on behalf of its leader by saying that Jovanović will "gladly help Mr. Mišković tell his truth about Čedomir Jovanović, in court, after he did it in mafia media."

"At the same time we suggest that he runs in the elections, alone or as part of a coalition of war criminals, war profiteers and war politicians, all those who helped him build his company and destroy our country."

"We think he is more likely to convince citizens to live in Delta, than us to answer nonsensical questions, that he uses to underline a campaign he has been conducting for years, aimed against essential changes in the country," the LDP statement said.

"We believe Mr. Mišković is aware that, unlike everything else, there is no monopoly on truth. If he forgot this in his might, we remind him that many whom he quotes today have tried this and failed, from Milošević to Legija," the party statement ends.