MUNICIPAL PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE IN BELGRADE

Special department for organized crime

PROSECUTOR FOR ORGANIZED CRIME

BELGRADE

Ustanicka 15

STATEMENT REGARDING INFORMATION ON ORGANIZED CRIME
STATEMENT GIVEN BY STANKO SUBOTIC

FOR CRIMES COMMITTED:

ABUSE OF OFFICIAL POSITION, EXTORSION, BLACKMAIL AND RACKETEERING BY THE MINISTER OF POLICE OF THE SERBIAN GOVERNMENT DUSAN MIHAJLOVIC

My lawyers sent you on May 25 of this year my statement regarding the information I possess on acts committed by an organized criminal group, which is headed by Milan Beko and Miroslav Miskovic. In my statement, I described and supported my allegations by evidence the schemes used by this duo and the politicians in power in Serbia between 2004 and 2008 for the purposes of illegal and criminal activities during the whole privatization process in Serbia. I handed you the evidence on falsifying the tender offers, payment of bribes to the Ministers and public officials, especially to the members of the Cabinet and Government of Vojislav Kostunica.

In addition to the general mechanisms I already described, I also gave you concrete evidence showing the commission of different wrongdoings during the privatization of the daily newspaper "Vecernje novosti". As a special annex, I prepared and filed information on various criminal activities undertaken by Manojlo Vukotic. At the end of that statement, I announced that I would send you information in my possession on other criminal privatizations to which the same group participated over the years, especially regarding the privatization of the "Port of Belgrade" and "Industry of Construction Material Trudbenik", which are interconnected.

Given that, immediately following my statement in the course of June, the Chairman of the Anti-Corruption Council Verica Barac filed, also with you, a criminal complaint against 17 persons for illegal privatization of the "Port of Belgrade", I considered that filing my statement regarding the same topic is unnecessary and that it would only delay the investigation which, I hope, you are conducting pursuant to the aforementioned criminal complaint, for which reason I contacted the Council in writing and offered the information and evidence in my possession which I have initially intended to remit to you.

If, nevertheless, in the course of the investigation you or your colleagues wish to take knowledge of the information and evidence regarding this privatization which is in my possession, as I have already mentioned it several times in my correspondence, I am ready to present them to your colleagues or you personally in a direct discussion.

The statement which I hereby file with you relates to the criminal wrongdoings committed by one of the members of the aforementioned organized group, Dusan Mihajlovic, the former Minister of police of the Serbian Government.

I filed a criminal complaint on March 19 against Mihajlovic and 22 other persons before the competent prosecutor's office in Geneva, Switzerland, the place of my residence, in respect of commission of several criminal acts, including extortion, blackmail and racketeering, which Dusan Mihajlovic has committed by abusing his position of Minister of police of the Serbian Government.

The prosecutor's office accepted the criminal complaint, which entered into force, and the prosecutor's office is already conducting an investigation based thereon. However, I considered it useful to provide you as well with the information in my possession in the form of the present statement, not only because the crimes I referred to fall under rules of mandatory prosecution as a matter of statute but also to help you to achieve your publicly stated objective according to which the prosecutor's office will act professionally, without political influence and that there would be no untouchables, especially not the politicians.

Another reason for filing this statement is that it relates to the members of the same organized criminal group of people and that the criminal actions committed by Dusan Mihajlovic, during the time he was a Minister, produce effect to this day and greatly influence the work of the judicial institutions, especially of the Special prosecutor's office for organized crime, which you are in charge of.

It is based on these circumstances that, acting pursuant to your indictment KT.C 11/7, a criminal trial is currently conducted before the Special Court, which trial is the consequence of the police action called "The Web", which was masterminded and secretly conducted by Dusan Mihajlovic for the purpose of racketeering wealthy individuals, including me.

TRUTH ABOUT THE POLICE INVESTIGATION "THE WEB"

In order to better understand the purpose of the police investigation "The Web" as well as the real motivation of the participants to the criminal wrongdoing, it is necessary to go back in time until the mid-nineties and the commencement of the end of a dictatorial regime, personified in the terror of the family and institutions of Slobodan Milosevic.

Serbia, Belgrade, Ub, July 1997

After more than ten years spent in France, where I worked and lived, I came back to Serbia with important saved capital and I invested this money in production of textiles, which was my profession. It was the end of the eighties and beginning of the nineties, at the time of the government of Ante Markovic, when everyone was under the impression that Yugoslavia was promised a better future. The business started very well and I invested all profits to expand the production and distribution network. However, very quickly, the initial successes and optimism were replaced by fear and hopelessness after the military operations started in the country. The business started to take different forms and to obey to new rules, doing business and payments via banking operations was no longer possible and the business risk exceeded all known boundaries. Not being able to collect the price of the merchandise that was sold and exported to Macedonia, I accepted a tow truck of cigarettes "Tutunski kombinat Skopje", in lieu of payment of the debt. Without any experience with the commerce of cigarettes, we put the cigarettes on sale in one of our shops and, by chance, we discovered that it was a very lucrative business. Not only have we sold the whole tow truck of cigarettes in a single morning but also the profit we made exceeded by far the value of the debt. Our business instinct made us look for more merchandise, which led me to enter the cigarettes business.

Using my long-term experience from Western Europe and my numerous contacts, I contacted cigarette manufacturers and, quickly thereafter, I signed the first representation and dealership contracts for most of South-east Europe. By the mid-nineties, I was one of the largest official representatives and distributors of almost all of the cigarettes manufacturers in the Balkans.

At that time, Serbia was suffering from wars and sanctions, which caused poverty and misery. Most of the people were poor. The crime linked to state structures had absolute power. Doing business also meant that I had to meet a number of people holding power at the time, without whom one could not obtain a single authorization required for doing business legally. This is how I met the chief of the secret police Jovica Stanisic, the chief of the Public Security Radovan Stojicic, chief of the parliamentary group of the then-ruling party SPS and many other officials.

I responded to their various requests to give money to finance various actions and projects, when they asked for my contribution, believing that I was helping my nation and my country. I believed that our mutual relationship was sincere and friendly.

At that time, the son of the President of Serbia, Marko Milosevic, also entered into the cigarette business, which quickly transformed this field of activity. Since the President's son had a tendency to behave inappropriately and was constantly surrounded by criminals, at their suggestion and with the help of his mother Mirjana Markovic, the most powerful person in the country at that time, Marko became the largest cigarettes dealer in Serbia, with the intent to become the only one.

Kidnappings, physical assaults and murders became everyday activities in Serbia. While the police considered these crimes as unsolved cases, everyone else considered them as clear messages from Marko and his clan as well as from the police which was tightly controlled by the obedient servants of Marko's mother and father.

My company and I did not have any issues at first since we were the official distributors of cigarettes and we did not deal with the "street sale" which did not make us compete with Marko's appetite. However, since Marko rapidly found the source of forged cigarettes of the brands which I legally represented, our presence started to bother him. It first started with "well-intended" messages from people in the industry and, later, also from the government, according to which messages we should not enter into conflict with Marko and Mira, that it would be better to leave him everything, etc.

After the murder of Marko's business partner and the man who was doing this business for Marko, Vlada Kovacevic Tref, as well as after the assassination of the chief of police Radovan Stojcic Badza, I was receiving threats and warnings on a daily basis. These threats were accompanied by warnings that I was also stepping on the toes of the rulers of Serbia because of my close relationship with Milo Djukanovic, who was the biggest enemy of the Milosevic-Markovic couple.

Since I did not listen to any of these "pieces of advice" the reaction of the State came swiftly. During my family vacation in Greece in July 1997, police officers lead by Miodrag Vukovic, the right hand of the then-chief of criminal police Dragan Ilic, broke into my residential and business premises in Serbia, without any court or prosecutor's warrant.

This is the same Vukovic who in 2003, after changing sides and becoming a democrat and under the protection of Dusan Mihajlovic, started the secret police investigation "The Web", fulfilling the orders he received already in 1997 from Mira Markovic.

During the police raid of all of my premises, in addition to taking photos of everything, including photos of children's clothes, documentation, paper headings, seals, tens of thousands of German marks and other objects have been seized. Without the order issued by a court, prosecutor or an investigative magistrate, Mira Markovic's private guard, with the help of the chief of criminal police Dragan Ilic and his servant Miodrag Vukovic, has sent me a clear warning.

Even though I tried through contacts with my friends, I was unable to identify the reason for this behaviour of the police or the identity of the person who issued the order for the police raid. Instead, I only received the information that Mira and Marko were behind this and that it was better for me not to return to the country.

Only 6 months after this savage break-in did MUP file 2 criminal complaints against myself, in my capacity of the owner of the company, and my director at the time, the first for breach of the law on commerce in foreign currencies and the second one for abuse of power in my own company (!!) which is the same criminal act that, 10 years later, this same Vukovic charged me with in the indictment of the Special prosecutor which you are heading.

Even though I was cleared of all charges arising out of both criminal complaints filed by the MUP by ruling of the Supreme Court in 1999, the MUP never returned the seized documents and seals of the company "Mia" Ub, numerous other objects and the money stolen, which even led the IV Municipal Court in Belgrade to issue a ruling ordering forced execution in 2000.

* ANNEX A *

Acting upon the orders received from Mira Markovic in person, without any court order, the MUP later issued a warrant against me for suspected tax evasion, according to which I was qualified as a dangerous and armed person and advised that the police take extra precaution during my arrest, even though I have never owned a firearm in my life.

Back then, this was considered to be a clear message to the police and criminals that a person was on the death list. I learned about this on time and I did not return to the country but I moved to Switzerland with my family, the country where I still live.

During the period of this "exile" I was receiving messages to stop doing business with Montenegro, to stop selling cigarettes to certain customers, that Marko's hired assassins will find me, etc. I did not want to accept these threats and blackmailing and I continued my business legally from Geneva.

I was also trying through lawyers and courts to establish my innocence, which I managed to do by court decisions in 1999 and 2000.

However, Mirjana Markovic could not accept this fact and managed, through her people, which in the meantime she had appointed to high positions in the police, secret police, courts and media, to start spreading the rumours about my exile according to which it was supposedly the consequence of my involvement in the assassination of Radovan Stojcic.

Before this story appeared in public, one of my friends who was holding a high position in the system told me that JUL released this story and that the president of the Radical party Vojislav Seselj would announce it publicly, following the order received from the then-vice chief of the KOS or the DB which were "keeping" Seselj precisely for this kind of purpose. This rapidly occurred and since then, whenever someone wishes to discredit myself over the media, he refers to these lies invented by JUL.

After trying to find out the real reasons and instigators of this lynch mob against myself, I concluded that in addition to Marko's inappropriate behavior there was one more, not less important, reason which is my wealth, or to be more precise the money which I made by doing that business.

One group of people belonging to the regime, tried to compensate for the lack of money in the State's budget by convincing Slobodan Milosevic and his spouse that individuals like me, who made fortune during the nineties, should donate a part of their wealth to the State.

It was also a matter of personal vengeance and envy, as well as a matter of the demagogy and hypocrisy but this topic became the main one in the conversations about the finances. Another group of officials of the regime considered that this was senseless, that this was just the way to mask crack-brained projects of JUL and their greed; however they also considered that a portion of our money should go to the "State" or at least to what they were defining as a State.

This is how, in addition to Marko and his appetite, I have found myself between two "hungry" groups of high-ranking officials of a dying regime, which were only interested in my money and which they soon started to consider as their own money.

Unfortunately, despite of the change of regime, this stayed the main reason for the hunt against my family and myself.

Serbia, October 5, 2000

I welcomed the change of that regime with unhidden excitement, ready to help, in all possible ways, the representatives of the new government, some of whom I already knew.

I returned to Belgrade in January 2001 after several years of exile, right before the formation of the new government. On that occasion, I found out that the police investigation ordered by the officials of JUL was still ongoing, because the immigration officer let me enter the country after great difficulties, despite the presence of the representatives of the new government who were waiting for me at the airport.

On that occasion, I also met Zoran Djindjic, who was to become the Prime minister a couple of days later, and I told him about my longstanding problems with the representatives of JUL and radicals in the police. We agreed that he would ask for an official report from the police as soon as the new Minister of police Dusan Mihajlovic was appointed.

This was the precise reason I started to have direct contact with Dusan Mihajlovic. After the assassination of Zoran Djindjic, these contacts became the personal ones and it all ended with Mihajlovic racketeering and blackmailing me, which subsequently resulted in the false indictment signed by your predecessor who was heading the Special prosecutor's office under political pressure made by the people working for Vojislav Kostunica.

Several weeks after formation of the new government, I received a message from Zoran Djindjic that he had verified with Dusan Mihajlovic and that the latter answered that "everything was fine" with me, that no investigation or procedure were ongoing, and that the only investigation conducted was that one from 1997, which the court rejected in 1997.

A couple of weeks later I came back to Belgrade with a large delegation of foreign investors from Europe for scheduled meetings with the representatives of the new Serbian government and I was subject to the same treatment, in front of my business partners.

This mistreatment was always conducted in the same way: upon presentation of my passport to the immigration officer I was always asked to step aside while the officer would call someone over the telephone or on his radio, then he would wait for the answer, ask me where I was going, the reason and length for my stay, whom I was to meet, and after 10 or 20 minutes of this procedure I would be allowed to enter the country.

The same procedure was repeated every time I would enter the country while the level of mistreatment and chicanery varied depending upon the individual who was working that day at the counter. I was treated as a "suspect individual", a person who is dangerous and problematic. Some officers have even threatened me and were saying that I was not and never will be a free man. Some others were loudly commenting, in front of other passengers, that a person against who a warrant was outstanding was there but they would always let me in after leaving me to wait on the side, with no explanation on the reason I was made to wait.

It was impossible for me to do business in this way, since every time I had to explain to my business partners why I was stopped and checked, I asked Zoran Djindjic that the police call me and take a statement from me if they were interested in something or that they give the evidence they had collected against me to the courts, all this only to eliminate the problems I was having at the border or, at least, that they indicate what this all was about.

In my presence, the Prime minister called Dusan Mihajlovic and told him all this, even asking him to deliver him everything they had on me since he was also interested in knowing whether there was anything problematic with my biography because he wanted to do business with me and, for that reason, he wanted to know all relevant facts about me. Mihajlovic told him that he would ask the police to proceed with a detailed verification on everything but that he knew that there was nothing irregular about me and that he did not know the reason why someone would keep me at the border.

In order to make sure that this issue would be addressed, the Prime Minister Djindjic called his closest assistant and close friend Vladimir Popovic and asked him to monitor this matter and to make sure that it is dealt with efficiently. The fact that I knew Popovic from before only made my situation easier for the moment.

Soon, Mihajovic sent the answer, stating that there was not a single reason for me to be kept at the border, that it was a consequence of the old police investigation, but that the latter was stopped and withdrawn, that this was perhaps not recorded yet and that his was causing all the issues. Mihajlovic further alleged that the people from JUL are still in the police and that they have been doing this on their own initiative, etc., but that I am clean and free citizen and that this would not happen again.

Sometimes around that time, in Croatia, a group of criminals with the support of the former Milosevic's officials, installed in the Cabinet of the President of FRY Vojislav Kostunica started to conspire for the demise of the legally elected governments in Serbia and Montenegro. For execution of this plan, they retained a member of this criminal organization Ivo Pukanov, a self-proclaimed journalist but in reality a media blackmailer and executor of the orders of the Croatian mafia in the medias he was heading.

This was the start of the "Tobacco affair" in the Croatian newspaper "Nacional" which was taken on by their accomplices in Serbia and Montenegro, especially by the media and political parties.

My name and my photo became synonymous with all the evils of Milosevic's regime and years during which the crime was blossoming. Even though the whole article from "Nacional" was based on lies and constructions, half-truths and insinuations, certain medias and political parties accepted it as "Saint texts", the content of which was not questioned.

The media campaign and harangue to which I was exposed only worsened my treatment at the immigration desk of the Belgrade airport, which caused that I stopped coming to Belgrade again. My attorneys officially requested from the official institutions the answers to the questions about my status and mistreatment I was subjected to each time I was entering the country.

* ANNEX B *

In our correspondence with the official institutions I asked to be heard or processed, to be told at last what this all was about since the treatment I received was just unacceptable. All the answers were identical – there was nothing problematic and they did not know what this was about.

Vladimir Popovic told me this several times, confirming that, in accordance with instructions from Zoran Djindjic, he had verified with Mihajlovic and also with other officials at the police and that they all assured him that there was only one "retired" investigation from 1997, which was impossible to delete, but that the police officers are not allowed to stop and question people based upon this investigation and that I was probably facing isolated cases. Since the situation was not getting any better, I completely stopped going to Belgrade and I was holding the meeting either in Montenegro or in Switzerland where I live.

Shortly after the assassination of Zoran Djindjic et the end of the "Sabre" investigation, I started to hear rumours that JUL's executioner Miodrag Vukovic, who in the meantime became some form of chief of the MUP, held a meeting in Sabac with the regional chiefs of police and that he told them at that meeting that an investigation on the cigarette smuggling in the '90s was opened. I also learned that he made them understand that the investigation must indicate that I (Stanko Subotic) was the main guilty person.

Having dealt with Vukovic before and knowing his personality, I told this to Vladimir Popovic and asked him to check who was in charge of the investigation and to organize that I come to make a deposition and give all the documents I had since I was afraid that Vukovic will just continue the fake and constructed investigation which will be used by the politicians to attempt to prove the lies from "Nacional" and continue thereby the campaign against the new government, and especially against Zoran Djindjic.

In parallel with this, my attorneys wrote to the police, Minister, Vice-Minister, competent chiefs of police, requesting my deposition, that they proceed with the control or to whatever it was necessary, but only within the limits of the law and using legal methods and not by force or by forging as Miodrag Vukovic was used to do. We either did not get any answers from the police or we received non-convincing denials and Vladimir Popovic told me that no investigation is ongoing, that he had checked everything and that there was nothing, that it was a question of either my paranoia or the attempt of certain people to blackmail me or to make me afraid.

I continued to receive calls from my acquaintances, former partners and friends, telling me that Miodrag Vukovic was calling and visiting them, that he was placing pressure on them, that he had told them that it would be good for them to accuse me wrongly, but all this on a semi-friendly, semi-official bases.

During that time, the media had engaged in a new campaign against me, my friends and partners, which campaign was in reality just the continuation of the old campaign. Attorneys and family of the people arrested during the "Sabre" action, the assassin of the prime minister were giving their theories about the assassination, accusing me, mentioning the cigarette smuggling and other nonsense. All this was processed by the Croatian newspaper "Nacional" and then it was spinned back to Serbia and Montenegro, creating pressure on public opinion, police officers, prosecutors, judges…This is when the media belonging to the mafia launched the idea about the seizure of my assets which were "acquired illegally" even though there was no law on this and even less the reason. It is precisely this same group of people which launched this idea in the media, upon coming into power, who realized this with the help of the Prosecutor's office, by giving a direct order to Slobodan Radovanovic to issue an indictment against me which was based on lies and private investigation of Milosevic's people.

In the meantime, I received the information that Serbia had also sent letters rogatory to Switzerland, Liechtenstein, France, Cyprus, that they mention an investigation which is conducted or money laundering and money originated in the smuggling and that my name was all over the place! They even used the coincidence that my nephew, who is also one of the directors of my company, is called Nikola Milosevic, to use his last name to make an allusion to Slobodan Milosevic and claim that the money deposited on my accounts and the profits are in fact the money of the family Milosevic-Markovic. This is exactly what Mladjan Dinkic claimed publicly, affirming that he had discovered the account of the nephew of Slobodan Milosevic. Through my attorneys I was still requesting to be heard and I offered cooperation but we remained without answer whereas the only answer we have been given is that – no investigation was ongoing! This was also confirmed by Vladimir Popovic, who even told me that he had talked about this directly with the minister Dusan Mihajlovic as well as with his deputy Nedan Milic, that both of them confirmed that there is no investigation and that all this was untrue. Popovic even told me that the minister Mihajlovic was even complimenting me, that he was referring to me in superlatives and that he expressed great desire to meet with me. Mihajlovic's request to meet with me was repeated to me by Popovic and some other of my acquaintances a couple of times during the Summer and Autumn of 2003.

In the same time, I received new messages about the investigation and I received the names of two inspectors who had signed the letter rogatories sent abroad. It was Glusica Branko and Bogdan Pusic.

I gave this information to Vladimir Popovic and my lawyers and after a couple of days Popovic called me to tell me that I was right, that he learned that there was an investigation conducted by these two inspectors following the orders of Miodrag Vukovic, that it was a secret investigation ordered by minister Dusan Mihajlovic without the knowledge of the deputy minister Nenad Milic or chief of public security general Sreten Lukic and that this was the main reason why no one knew about this investigation.

On that occasion, Popovic told me that he had talked with Mihajlovic, that the latter had tried to avoid responding but when Popovic told him that he knew about the investigation Mihajlovic said that it was not an investigation but that Vukovic was writing a book about the cigarettes smuggling and that he asked the minister for permission which he received and that he was sending his regards and is asking when he can meet with me again!?

Shortly thereafter, at the beginning of November, Popovic called me to tell me that Dusan Mihajlovic was asking that I come to Belgrade to meet with me as soon as possible, that he doesn't know the reason for this because Mihajlovic only stated this over the telephone but that this was a good opportunity to find out why he initiated the secret investigation against myself and why he was insisting for so long to meet with me.

Serbia, Belgrade, Headquarters of the Liberals of Serbia, Proleterskih brigada 76

The meeting took place in the premises of New Democracy (Liberals of Serbia) az 76 Proleterskoh brigada street , where I went with Vladimir Popovic. A few persons from my security as well as several police officers, members of the official security of Vladimir Popovic he had at that time, also came along.

We came to the meeting at 21:30 because Mihajlovic was busy with party activities somewhere in Serbia and he could not make it earlier. We were welcomed by Ivan Djordjevic who was, as I discovered, Mihajlovic's personal secretary in the party and also chief of Mihajlovic's cabinet at the Ministry of police.

While we were waiting for Mihajlovic, Djordjevic talked to him several times over the telephone, told him that we arrived and transmitted us his apologies for being late while a number of other officials of the party were coming to the office and mainly greeted Popovic.

Mihajlovic arrived around 22:15 and after cordial greetings with Vladimir Popovic, he also greeted me, shaking my hand firmly, smiling and telling me:

"Welcome compatriot!"

With his hand around my shoulder he took me to his office very cordially, offered me a drink and immediately went on to business, explaining that I have no reason to worry, that "a good horse raises dust", that I am a wealthy and honest man, that I am capable and intelligent, that the two of us know each other for very long but that we never managed to meet in person and so forth in the same style.

I asked him about the problems on the border whenever I was entering the country as well as about the investigation which was conducted against me, about the fact that no one has ever called me to take my statement and I told him that this situation was causing me a lot of damage and that it was putting my family and myself in danger and that it was threatening our security, the reason why I asked him to be called officially and that the police do all they wanted to do, take my statement, investigate, just that they put an end to the situation which was ongoing since 1997.

Mihajlovic smiled mysteriously and told me that himself and the police know that I was clean but that Kostunica and people around him want to drag me into dirt and blackmail me to attack Milo Djukanovic and the late Zoran Djindjic but also because they wanted to take away a part of my assets which they have "laid their eyes on". He told me that he will not allow it, that he will take care of me and protect me, that as long as he is the Minister of police I will not get hurt and that for the moment the most important thing was that he gets the best possible score at the elections, which were to be held in December, and that he reached the agreement with a number of foreign ambassadors that he will continue as the Minister of police.

He told me that I should not worry about Vukovic and the investigation, he laughed loudly and commented that Vuk (Miodrag Vukovic) is writing a book and that he had told him "Screw writing, we're cops, not writers" but that he really insisted. Mihajlovic also told me that I should not be worried but that I should help his political party for the elections, because his "Black sheep" campaign actually helps Ceda for the next elections because there was an attempt to make a coup within DS and to put in charge a man controlled by the Army and KOS, Boris Tadic, that it was important that he gets into government with the Liberals and that he was counting on my small help in the amount of 50 thousand euros. I accepted his request and shortly after the meeting I paid this money to the agency that was handling the campaign for his party, exactly as Mihajlovic has asked for.

This is what happened during our first meeting, which lasted about 2 hours, and he stopped me at the end, waiting for Vladimir Popovic to go out first, to whisper that we should meet again to tell me why I was treated as a "suspect person" and that I was smart enough to understand what I was expected to do. Right after the elections, at which he didn't enter into Parliament, he asked through Vladimir Popovic to meet with me urgently in Belgrade, saying that it was extremely urgent and important for me.

Serbia, Belgrade, Business club "Lutra", Majke Jevrosime 23

I came to Belgrade and went to the meeting together with Popovic to "Lutra" or "Lutra's" club at 23 Majke Jevrosime street . That day was the first time that I was neither stopped nor questioned at the border. We came to the meeting at 11 in the morning and waited for Mihajlovic until 13:30 because, according to his secretary, he was at the meeting of the Government and some other meetings that he couldn't reschedule.

During the meeting, Mihajlovic was again very cordial, he thanked me for the financial help which I gave to him but he appeared worried all the time, especially because of the bad results at the elections and a fear that Kostunica and his "obscure people", as he was calling his assistants, were coming. After a couple of minutes spent with the worried face, he gave me a large envelope, and asked me to open it. I opened the envelop and, among approximately fifty documents, I opened the first document which was some form of organigram outlining the cigarette smuggling in the nineties, where at the top of the pyramid, next to Mirjana Markovic, Marko Milosevic, Mihalj Kertes, Jovica Stanisic and many others there was also my photo as well as photos of my assistants from the company "Mia-Ub". On the top of the document, it was written MUP of Serbia, police investigation "The Web" and I was represented as one of the main organizers of the cigarettes smuggling.

After going through the papers and other organigrams Mihajlovic gave me, I understood that all the rumours which I was hearing for months were true, that Vukovic was indeed conducting an investigation with the purpose to designate me as the guilty one and to abolish the real smugglers.

Since the documents were bearing the mark that the investigation was conducted upon the order of the Minister of police, I asked him for an explanation to which he replied:

"That's because of Vukovic, he lied to me that he was writing a book while he was conducting an unauthorized investigation, don't worry, I'll take care of this, this whole thing was done so that they can blackmail you, Vukovic probably did this in collusion with Kostunica's guys…

Hahaha, he didn't want to write a book but he conducted an investigation…Don't worry compatriot, Misko (Miroslav Miskovic), Pera (Pater Matic), Mira, Marko, Slova are also there…Screw the writing…It's obvious to me that the whole thing was invented, don't worry Vukovic is a fool, I'll destroy everything, he wanted to put you in the White book as well but I didn't let him do that, haha…but listen, give me your number, I travel abroad very often and we can meet to talk about serious things and not about this stupid stuff and it's also safer abroad than here, now that these Kostunica's criminals are coming…"

I emphasize that he stated all this in front of Vladimir Popovic. I gave my telephone number to Mihajlovic and left "Lutra's" building. It was clear that Mihajlovic was behind everything and that he was manipulating the whole investigation but the only thing I was still ignoring was the reason, or should I say the price!

After we left Lutra, Vladimir Popovic suggested that we go to his office which was close to "Lutra" and to call the Minister of justice Vladan Batic to tell him about the behavior of the Minister of police. Minister Vladan Batic came after a while and that's where we met and saw each other for the first time. Vladimir Popovic showed him the documents which the Minister Mihajlovic gave to me and he explained that the both of us were convinced that Mihajlovic was doing this to blackmail me and that he is trying to get some personal benefit out of it.

Minister Batic was shocked when he saw the documents he had never heard of, and stated that the Government as well as the Security Council or the justice system he was heading never discussed this.

Since the Minister of justice Vladan Batic was also a politician and president of a political party, he quickly noticed that the investigation was conducted to show that the accusations of Vojislav Kostunica, which were in line with the writings of Ivo Pukanic and "Nacional" newspaper in Croatia, were truthful, that this was the basis of the electoral campaign of the opposition parties and that the only purpose of this investigation was to discredit the actions and the party of Zoran Djindjic.

Understanding that the consequences for myself could potentially be disastrous, that the Minister of police is abusing his position and that I couldn't get the help from anyone in Serbia, I contacted my lawyers in Switzerland and France, I gave them the documents I received from Mihajlovic but I also gave copies of these documents to the intelligence agencies of the countries where I knew the officials.

Switzerland, Zurich, Grand Hotel Dolder

Shortly after this meeting, at the end of January 2004, Mihajlovic called me from his number +38163255500 on my cell number +41793550572 and asked me to meet him urgently "without Beba" (Vladimir Popovic), event insisting that he should not even know about the meeting.

I agreed and we scheduled the meeting in Zurich at the "Grand Hotel Dolder", Kurhausstrasse 65, where we meet during lunchtime and stayed together for a full 7 hours!

At that occasion, he showed me a new diagram where I was again but only this time the document was also showing the real cigarettes smugglers from the nineties, which worked together with the State: Mirko Vucurovic, Pera Matic, Dusan Zabunovic, Miroslav Miskovic, Bojana Bajrusevic, Vanja Bokan, Marko Milosevic…

To my question to explain me why I was among these people when I was not selling cigarettes in Serbia but representative and distributor of large quantities of cigarettes for official manufacturers, MIhajlovic told me that Vukovic had done that following the orders of DB, Kostunica and enemies (he did not explain who these enemies were) for the purpose to take my money. Mihajlovic stated that he was fighting against it and that I should not worry about it since he was in control. He asked me not to talk about our meetings and especially not to Beba (V.P.), since he was not a politician, cannot keep the secrets and is chasing some justice which can only be harmful to the both of us and he concluded by saying that I should stick with him (Mihajlovic) and that I should not be worried.

Even though the discussion lasted 7 hours I understood very little of what Mihajlovic was saying, since he was talking in coded language, not distinctively, he was jumping from one sentence to another, gesticulating and smiling mysteriously. The only thing I was able to understand is that he needed the money urgently, that he needed a lot of money to continue the political struggle so that "he and his guys" oppose the enemies. I was always coming back to the "papers" he had given to me, explaining to him that the investigation was identical to the one Vukovic attempted to conduct in 1997 which, even with the full support of the regime at that time, he lost in court and that he keeps doing the same now that he is his own employee!

He affirmed that he knows about the role of Vukovic in the previous regime, that I saved my head when in 1997 I ran away from the country, that Vukovic was acting on the orders of the than chief of criminal police Dragan Ilic, who acted upon the direct order of Vlajko Stojiljkovic, for the purpose of abolishing the actions of the real cigarettes smugglers and the he wanted to find a scapegoat, that I was chosen as the scapegoat, and that by doing so they wanted to compromise Badza and his assassination, that the role of Vukovic in the whole thing was very dirty but that I should not worry since he will deal with everything and that I should only see "how to help them as soon as possible".

Upon reading the documents, I saw that the emphasis has been put on a seizure of cigarettes in Novi Sad, for which I was alleged to be the organizer, and I asked him to be questioned as soon as possible, since I had all the information about it, that it was an action of the border and police authorities organized by the State, that I was only used to get the merchandise (cigarettes), that I didn't have anything to do with it and that I wanted to share this information as soon as possible.

He claimed that there was no reason to be worried about this and that I did not need to make any deposition, that he would make sure that everything is thrown away and forgotten and that I should only look into how to help "their struggle".

I stubbornly insisted to be a witness in that investigation, I told him I knew everything about the cigarette smuggling business which took place in the nineties, that I know who did it and how, that I even have documents about everything showing that the smuggling was organized by the State and the state security acting through Mirko Vucurevic, that this money was used to finance the war in Bosnia, war crimes and, later, hiding of the war criminals and that public security took on a portion of this business later on, that the cigarettes business in Novi Sad was done by Vanja Bokan for the State, that the involvement of the financial police was actually a result of a dispute between the secret services and the police over the black market for cigarettes, that these actions only served to distort the truth and to mislead, that it will be too late afterwards and that all the criminals will escape.

Mihajlovic was approving everything, he even knew more details about some situations, and he blamed Vukovic and his old connections with JUL for everything. He told me that Vukovic tried to give everything to the prosecutor but that the prosecutor refused everything because the statute of limitation had expired, that he brought everything to Switzerland only to show me what could have happened without his intervention! He was interested to know how much damage all this was causing me, how much it was costing me, making comments that I made a lot of money and that it would be normal to repay it a bit. Then, he mentioned Peconi (Predrag Rankovic) and said: "Look, he nicely gave his share and now he is a respectable businessman! He met with Karic, they also called me, I came, they agreed everything and now everyone is happy!...Now, compatriot, tell me about al you have and where you have it so that we can close the business…Tell me how much money and what businesses…What is big money for you…"

At that time it was obvious that his intent was to blackmail me but, since he was still the Minister of police, I had to be cautious and to see exactly what he wants. I asked him to tell me exactly how much he wants and to tell me what he offers in return.

He started to mumble that a political party is an expensive thing, that the cost of living was high, that there was a lot of them (he did not want to say who were "they"), that all this was costing me a lot, that he will restore my image and that I will be able to normally do business in the future, that I should tell him how much money I have and that he will then decide how much I should give!

To gain some time, I told him that I could not give money in cash but only for projects and through banks and companies. He told me that "they" were very nervous and impatient, that all must be dealt with quickly and that he would contact me quickly.

Right after my return to Geneva, I contacted my lawyers in Geneva and Paris to inform them of what was going on and they suggested that I keep communicating so that we can gather evidence about the blackmail by the Minister of Police of Serbia and they also suggested that I contact the prosecutor in Geneva, which I did and a part of the criminal procedure which is currently conducted by the competent prosecutor in Switzerland relates precisely to Dusan Mihajlovic and this for extortion, blackmail and racketeering.

France, Paris, Law firm of Veronique Lartigue

When Mihajlovic contacted me again and asked for a meeting, upon the suggestion of our lawyers, I scheduled the meeting to take place in Paris, at the offices of my lawyers, in order to gather evidence of his criminal actions.

We met at the beginning of February 2004 in Paris in the law firm Veronique Lartigue at the address: 4 Rue Dumont d'Urville. He came to the meeting with a pilot bag out of which he took out some wines for me as a present and he put the empty bag on the desk in front of me, smiling and showing me with the head that I should fill it in.

He told me right away that he was expected "in the country" by people who are very nervous and impatient. On my question to tell me what was going on with "The Web" and what exactly he expected from me, he started to explain that the situation is very complicated, that he will soon leave his position of Minister of Police, that Vukovic gave everything to the inspectors Branko Glusica and Bogdan Pusic with whom he worked on this investigation, that they are now in charge and that, unless do react promptly, everything would end with Kostunica and the new Minister and that it would be too late for everything then.

He told me that Glusica and Pusic are his friends, that he hired Glusica in the MUP upon request of one of his business partners from Slovenia and that he can use him to finish everything, that he also controls Pusic and that we must act quickly, pushing the bag under my nose and showing me its empty content. I told him again that I do not have cash, that I can only invest in projects through the bank but that he would need to tell me what these projects were about.

He nervously asked that I give him at least a million Euros right away because his partners in Belgrade were very nervous, and that I must give it to them at all costs. I told him that I can get him 100 or 200 thousand at most but that I would need time even for that amount.

Mihajlovic started to be unpleasant, to threaten me implicitly and he took out a piece of paper out of his pocket to ask me about my accounts in Cyprus, stating that he saw the bank statements and asked me where the money was.

I told him that he should know very well that I had a company in Cyprus which had a large turnover based on the commercial contracts with the manufacturers of cigarettes, that the money was not mine, that it was the turnover, that my Company was getting 6 or 7% of that amount and that both Dinkic and he went to Cyprus supposedly to look for money belonging to Slobodan Milosevic and that they presented that bank account to the public as the account the stolen money from Serbia was deposited into only because my nephew had the authorization over that account and that his last name was Milosevic by pure accident.

Shaking his head, Mihajlovic started to talk about Dinkic with anger in his voice:
"…Yes, yes that's that piece of shit of Dinkic…I also got screwed over about Cyprus. I understood it too late that he used your nephew's last name to sabotage the investigation about the real accounts and then he made a deal with the owners of the real accounts. Bastard. Zoran understood it also late and he wanted to fire him for that. A crook, he all masterminded with Wolf Minic and Kostunica…But let this aside now, what happened happened. Tell me what we are going to do for the money? Do you want to give the money or we'll have trouble…?"

I told him with fear in my voice that I don't have cash, that I want to help and finance "them" but only through projects and companies.

Openly unhappy, he closed the pilot bag and mumbled that it was too bad but that he would see what he can do about the projects and then he left the office.

I emphasize that even though we were alone in the office, my lawyers were following the meeting over a video and prepared the minutes right after the meeting that I filed with the competent authorities in France.

During our meeting, over the telephone and in messages, he was warning me all the time that Vladimir Popovic should not know anything about this, that otherwise it would ruin everything which I followed and have not said anything to anyone except to ma attorneys and competent authorities of several European countries.

Spain, Marbella, Arrival with Slobodan Radulovic

A couple of weeks later, Mihajlovic called me from the same number to ask me to meet with him urgently to which I told him I was in Marbella where I was to stay the whole month; he asked for my address saying that he had to see me urgently, that he was coming with a friend to talk about a project and that, in his word, everything was extremely urgent.

He came to Marbella two days later with Slobodan Radulovic, director of the company "C market".

Mihajlovic asked to see me alone first and told me that I have to invest 20 million Euros in "C market", that it was very important since Kostunica was trying to get a hold on the company through Miskovic and Beko, that he was in good terms with the both of them but that "C market" must stay with "them" and that "C market" will serve to finance them all. At this moment, he started to laugh telling me that I got a "good deal", that this money was nothing for me and that I was doing a good deed.

Radulovic confirmed that 15 to 20 million Euros were needed for them to buy out the majority stake of shares and that they had to act quickly because Miskovic was about to take over "C market".

To my question whether they needed the money in the form of an investment from a strategic partner or financial loan, they both looked at each other in surprise before Mihajlovic asked to talk to me in private.

Then, he started to use a different tone telling me:
"Are you crazy? Didn't you understand it so far that you have to give the money or you'll get screwed? Over there the situation was getting complicated, everyone is nervous because of you, if you keep screwing with us you can be sure you'll be done!"

Upon advice of my lawyer, I continued the "game" and told him that I was to participate and finance the project but that I needed more time, that I especially needed to get the project and see everything about the privatization and that I had to call the people from my company which would be in charge of the project.

I was buying time, Radulovic was half-satisfied while Mihajlovic was openly dissatisfied. His was expecting to give me Radulovic's bank account where I would immediately transfer 20 million Euros so that everything could be closed that day.

My lawyers advised me to drag the story some more and that I include someone into this so that I can have an additional witness and I contacted Zoran Becirovic, a businessman from Moscow, explaining him what I was going through because of the Minister of police.

He offered his help and we agreed for him to attend the next meeting.

France, Burgogne, Letter of Intention "C-market"

Our next meeting took place in France, in Bourgogne in my winery Louis Max, 6 Rue de Chaux Nuit Saint-Georges where Mihajlovic came with Slobodan Radulovic.

Before the business part of our meeting, he whispered to me that the situation with "The Web" was very difficult but that he was "still holding" the inspectors Glusic and Pusic and that if we "close" everything would be fine.

Mihajlovic brought some document with him, a letter of intentions and the account number where I was to pay 20 million Euros. This is when Becirovic jumped into conversation saying that it was not possible to make the transfer that easily without proceeding with the audit and financial analysis of the Company, that we are interested to provide the financing but that some pre-conditions must be satisfied first, that the banks would not allow these kind of transfers without the appropriate documentation, etc. We agreed to form a team and send them to Belgrade to close the business with Radulovic.

Zoran Becirovic formed the team very quickly and sent them to Belgrade. Although they worked on this for a couple of weeks, everything came down to the fact that I had to give money without receiving anything in return, neither the strategic partnership nor any proof that I actually landed money; instead, it was my obligation towards Mihajlovic knowing that one day, when "they" come to the power again and "win against the enemies" I would also "receive benefits".

Monastery Soko Grad, "Vujic-Valjevo", Povlen: May 2004

Mihajlovic was sending me messages incessantly, sometimes he was polite, sometimes angry and threatening; then, at the beginning of May, he called me all nervous and angry, asked me to see me urgently and I told him that I was invited by the Bishop Lavrentije on the 8th of May 2004 to attend a celebration in the monastery Soko Grad and that we can meet there.

During the lunch reception which was organized to celebrate the diploma and medal I received from the Bishop Lavrentije, Dusan Mihajlovic was seating next to me and Ivica Dacic, currently the Minister of police, was seating in front of us. There was also a large number of officials, approximately fifty of them. In addition, several hundred people were gathered in the yard surrounding the monastery. After lunch, I went to the Bishop's office to receive the medal and I used that occasion to complain to him about the problems Mihajlovic was causing me.

Mihajlovic also came to the office and I was talking in front of me about the problems that he caused me, believing that this would cause him to see reason. The Bishop promised me that he would try to help me. Dusan told me that he had some positive news about the investigation and suggested that we go to Valjevo in the hotel of his friend Vujic and that we go afterwards to Povlen to show me something. On his request, I came with him with his SUV while my security was following us in my vehicles.

In Valjevo, he introduced me to the owner of the hotel Vujic and some other people, we chatted a bit and then continued to Povlen. This is when he gave me an envelope with a new diagram, on which I was placed on a much lower level on the pyramid than earlier, he told me that this was the only way to resolve things because everything was now in the hands of the new Minister Dragan Jocic but that he kept pulling the strings, that he kept controlling Glusica and Pusic and that he would "kick me out of the diagram completely" in the following weeks. It was obvious that he changed the tactics and that he was trying to get the money in a different way.

We arrived to Povlen and he started to talk about Serbia and importance of certain people out of the blue. All mysterious, he started to talk badly about Zoran Djindjic and Vladimir Popovic, saying they were traitors, that the hills around are full of secrets, that he knows them all, etc.

He turned to me at one point and said:
"Compatriot, maybe one day you will know some of the secrets. But first, you have to open your wallet! C'mon, how much you can give so that we resolve this problem! Is 50 not too much for you?" (probably talking in millions).

I tried to explain that I confirmed that I want to finance "C market" but that I was still waiting for the information from Belgrade and that I cannot do anything without it. He started to wave the diagram of the investigation "The Web" threatening me that I can either get into troubles or that he can take care of everything. He started to address me angrily again:
"Compatriot, you'll get screwed, don't be stupid! They all already paid their share, you're the last one, don't think you can get away!"

He was showing me the diagram and indicated that Miskovic was gone from it, saying that Misko should not be smarter than me, while he was laughing in my face. Then, he went mysteriously silent before telling me that unless I give the money that very day he would not be able to prevent doom for me. I repeated that I was not guilty and that I have no reason to fear because I had done nothing illegal, to what he said:

"Fuck the law, compatriot, what law, if you don't pay you'll get fucked"

Mihajlovic drove me back to Valjevo to the "Grand" hotel to his friend Vujic, gave me the bank account of the "Grand" hotel and told me that I can transfer the money to that account as well, indicating "extending hotel capacities" as a reason for payment. He kept asking for money and allusions that I could even be arrested at the border.

I had told him earlier that I had 200 thousand Euros in the car with my people, which I brought to pay for works on the church which I was constructing in Ub and he insisted that I bring him that money which would serve as "first aid" because the situation was "very, very serious". Fearing that I could really get arrested at the border, I accepted and gave him 200,000 Euros in cash. He took the money, saying that it was just "crumbs" which was for the inspector and to calm them down a bit but that, unless I give the money they were expecting from me, nothing would save me.

I came back to Switzerland where I informed my lawyers and I decided to stop communicating with him. I also withdrew Zoran Becirovic form the "C-market" project.

Probably satisfied with the money received and expecting to get more now, Mihajlovic was sending mostly courteous messages and friendly message. He was trying to call me on the telephone as well but I was responding to his calls or messages. However, he kept sending me the messages:

I quote only some of tens of messages I received during that period:

From +381642574673 at June 02, 2004 08:07, 14 :
When can we talk?

From +38163255500 at June 28, 2004 11:08, 52 :
I'm waiting for us to talk.

From +38163255500 at July 07, 2004 11:41, 44 :
What's with my friend?
Where is he?

However, I stopped communicating with Mihajlovic.

After a meeting with my lawyers, we came to the conclusion that we had enough elements to file a criminal complaint, but that it would be best to do it in Serbia, partly because Mihajlovic was domiciled there but also because of the fact that he was blackmailing me while using his position of the Minister of police of Serbia and that that crime was subject to mandatory prosecution. We drafted the criminal complaint and I already agreed with my lawyers in Serbia to file the criminal complaint in Serbia. The only reason why I did not file the criminal complaint at that time was because I received telephone calls from my company from my employees who informed me that a certain prosecutor Pavlovic, together with the duo Branko Glusica and Bogdan Pusic, prepared an indictment against me and my company, that it was just a matter of days before it is done, that this was coordinated with Kostunica and that the best thing would be to try to make an arrangement with Mihajlovic and put an end to useless troubles. I should say that I started to receive advices to "make an arrangement with Mihajlovic" since the end of 2003 (while he was still a Minister) until early 2005 (when he was not Minister for already a year). I have in my possession the names of people who had been sending me these messages and who had advised me "with the best intentions" to make a deal with Mihajlovic as well as the number of SMS messages on the same topic, and copies of these are in the possession of my attorneys and we are ready to give them to anyone from the prosecutor's office if an investigation on this serious crime starts.

The second reason for renouncing to file a criminal complaint in Belgrade against Mihajlovic was that Vojislav Kostunica and his team have been in power already for several months. Some of them, implicated in the assassination of Zoran Djindjic, have been appointed to the highest official positions and they were heading the police, secret police, army, judicial system, prosecutor's office…This is why it looked pointless that I, who was prosecuted by these very same people, file a criminal complaint with them against a person who made a "deal" with them, which everyone knew.

I decided not to file the criminal complaint in Serbia and I looked for the way how to file it in one of the countries in which Mihajlovic committed some of the crimes.

In August 2004, I went with my family to Ub to visit my parents and family. Of course, I was pulled aside at the airport while they were talking to someone over the telephone and then, after waiting for half an hour, they gave me back my passport and let me enter the country.

A couple of days later, I received a message from Dusan Mihajlovic:

From +38163255500 at August 11, 2004 21:18, 19 :
Is it possible that
my friend doesn't call?
Because of the promise or
some rumours I heard?
I hope you're
different from how it appears
But you're the one who decides


Even though I didn't reply to this message, a day or two later, Dusan Mihajlovic called me on my land line in the house in Ub (the number of which I did not know the number myself) and asked me to come to the church in Ub where he would wait for me and that it was very, very urgent.

In the church, Mihajlovic was speaking with the priests and when I entered he asked that we talk alone.

He immediately started to gesticulate angrily and to talk to me loud:
"Why did you tell Beba about our meetings and deals?! Are you crazy?! Do you want to end up in prison?! We're all mad and angry! There are talks that I am racketeering you and that I'm blackmailing you with the investigation! Batic called me and told me that I should stop racketeering you!! Hey, do you know what you did?! Beba told it to everyone, he told the journalists, judges, police, politicians…You're done now…"

I told him that thousands people saw us in Soko Grad and Valjevo, that everyone knows that I was being set up and that a fake indictment have been prepared which was the consequence of the investigation he ordered, that everyone knew that too and that people were logically making their own conclusions.

He was shouting, saying that they could not make that conclusion by themselves:
"How come Beba knew about "C-market" and Paris? How come Batic knows about 20 million? Why do my friends ask me if I am really blackmailing you?"

I told him then: "So tell me Dusan, what is this if not blackmail? You ordered an investigation against me, asked them to put inside of it everything they could invent and then you showed me the investigation and told me that you can destroy it if I pay! You took 250 thousand so far, you're giving me different accounts asking me to pay 15, 20 or 50 million!? What is it if not blackmail?"

He was probably not expecting that I would tell him this, and he changed the tactics instantly, started to smile and to look at me in surprise, telling me:
"Eh my compatriot, you didn't get a thing. I wasn't blackmailing you, I was just trying to help you and to save you from the enemies and in exchange I suggested you to help us, so that we can beat the enemies together! What you have so far, not only it's peanuts but you also have no proofs, except for 50 thousand you gave for the campaign. And that it not prohibited and you gave it voluntarily, I will find ten witnesses who will certify that you begged me to give the money, and everything else, well we offered you the opportunities to invest…It's stupid that the compatriots fight between each other, it's exactly what our enemies want…I will try to stop the investigation from going to the prosecutor's office but you have to be smarter than what you've been so far…Watch over yourself…" etc.

It is however true that at that time I had started telling everyone that Dusan Mihajlovic was racketeering me, that this was the reason why a false indictment was in preparation, and I tried to explain what was going on to as many people as possible. This is when I told it also to Vladimir Popovic (Beba) as well as to Vladan Batic, many journalists and business partners from Belgrade but also to the then chief of the Department for the fight against organized crime (UBOPOK) Mladen Spasic.

The meeting with Spasic was organized by a business partner from Belgrade, Cicmil Milos. At the meeting, I told to the chief criminal police of Serbian MUP all that was going on with Mihajlovic, the blackmail, extortion, about the false indictment which was in preparation because I did not want to give 20 or 50 million…Mladen Spasic told me that he and almost everyone else in the police knew that Dusan Mihajlovic had started the investigation "The Web" to blackmail people. That they know that he had taken money from a certain number of people already, that he had brought Glusica and Pusic to the MUP, that they practically just continued doing a private investigation but that he was unable to do anything because the new Minister of police Dragan Jocic considered this with approval. He told me he was sorry, that he understood everything but that it was beyond his capacities.

In the meantime, Mihajlovic kept sending me the messages that he was waiting for me to schedule the meeting but, after the meeting with Spasic, I left Belgrade, went to Switzerland and sent a message to Mihajlovic that we would meet tomorrow.

I stopped answering to his messages which I was receiving all the time. And then, he sent me a message on the 1st of September:

From +381631111860 at September 1, 2004 10:50, 39:

I learned almost everything
still have to put all together
because it can be
very simple
It would be good
to meet and to get serious
to synchronize our action
but I'm in trouble
all over the place
regards


A few days later, he called me from a hidden number and asked me to meet, saying that he had a favourable solution for everything, especially for my problem. I accepted but I asked from him to verify everything in details before we meet and that I was only interested in the final solution.

A couple of days later, he sent me a new message:

From +381631111860 at September 9, 2004 18:35, 22 :

Complicated because
too many players
they won't do
anything without agreement.
Many things in
the works at the moment
When do we meet?


With prior agreement with my lawyers and security agents, I called him to come to Switzerland where we met again in the hotel "Dolder" in Zurich.

The meeting started with an explanation about how the whole investigation started:

"It's true compatriot, I'm guilty, I brought that guy Glusica to the MUP on request of a business partner form Slovenia…I gave to Vuk (Miodrag Vukovic) to work with him and Pusic. Glusica became very close with Bogdan Pusic and the latter was close with that prosecutor Pavlovic from Novi Sad and they are looking now to became famous…Jocic also got involved in everything and now it's much more difficult to deal with this… Vukovic does write the book…

You made a mistake compatriot because you let the things go this far, you should have reacted before…"

Then he went on to ask me whether I made a deal with DSS, about my relations with Kostunica, Jocic, Tadic, Kasa, Covic, Mirko Petrovic…He claimed that no deal with DSS can help me out, if I had made it, because he was supposedly still holding everything under his control…

Since I came to the meeting wired, I provoked him by asking him if there was still a possibility to arrange everything and how much would that cost…

"Well…Hmmm…Maybe…This is your last chance…everything could still be arranged…but…eeee…this is your last chance
Thirty…to stop everything"

To my question: Thirty million?
He responded:
"Aaa…yes, but to stop everything…"

He stated again that I can transfer all the money to the account of Slobodan Radulovic or Vujic from Valjevo or to some other account if I want to but that everything had to be done quickly, and I replied that I needed 2 days to think and to give him an answer.

This was the last time I saw him.

With the evidence I collected, I decided to file a criminal complaint against him with the prosecutor in Switzerland and publicly and in writing to inform the authorities in charge of security in several European countries. Shortly thereafter, I told to everyone I knew about everything that Mihajlovic was doing and, through individuals close to the government in Belgrade, I also informed almost everyone from the Serbian Government.

Since at that time I was in business arrangements with Dragi Micovic (everything was explained in details in my last statement on "Vecernje novosti"), I informed through him almost all the officials about the blackmail done by Dusan Mihajlovic. From the general secretary of the Government, Dejan Mihajlov, to the director of the BIA Rade Bulatovic, Minister of police Dragan Jocic and others.

I was assured that the police and prosecutor would verify my allegations and that I would be called to make a deposition but nothing happened; instead, a private investigation, which was ordered by Dusan Mihajlovic with the purpose to blackmail people, was transformed into a false indictment which was signed by your predecessor, which triggered a false trial where the accusation from the indictment are still defended by the prosecutor's office which you are heading.

This statement has a direct connection with the statement I sent to you on May 25 of this year, because the close collaborators of Dusan Mihajlovic, Milan Beko and Miroslav Miskovic, continued the process of blackmails and extortions based on the investigation "The Web" and criminal activities of Dusan Mihajlovic.

Using different methods, such as business activities, they managed to take away from me several dozens of millions of Euros by using a false investigation orchestrated by their friend, also a member of the organized criminal group, as a blackmail tool, which I explained in details in my last statement.

That everything was done to deprive me from a portion of my assets, is evidenced by the fact that from all the groups which had been initially indicated in the investigation "The Web", only 6 groups have been referred to the prosecutor's office, out of which only 3 have been supposedly investigated but in reality, it was narrowed down to a single one and a criminal trial is currently conducted only against me with the purpose to show what cannot be shown, by using all illegal means.

Through police pressure on witnesses, producing forged evidence, media condemnations even before the indictment, political pressures of the highest State officials, the private investigation of the Minister Mihajlovic became a charade and the way to pressure me more for daily political purposes.

Answering the question of a journalist who asked if all 8 groups and more than 200 individuals investigated would be processes, your predecessor declared:

"All persons who have been involved in illegal commerce of tobacco products on the Serbian market will be investigated. Do not put me in a position to cite the names, but I am telling you: all persons will be investigated"

More than three years passed since that and public opinion as well as you know that it never happened and that the largest cigarettes smugglers got away, that they are now respected businessmen and sponsors of political parties and that the only criminal procedure which is currently conducted is the one against myself and my assistants before the Court for organized crime for the crime of "abuse of position in a private company".

I do not intend to discuss with you the indictment and the way it has been written but I consider that it is not possible to ignore the facts which have been set out hereby and which have been integrated in the indictment, which the prosecutor's office that you are heading still defends, as a result of criminal actions.

This especially since you declared yourself on several occasions that nobody will have a free pass to commit wrongdoings, no matter what his position or function and that, in the fight against the organized crime, the most important thing is to discover and punish the officials who abused their powers to allow and protect the criminal actions.

You have in front of you a textbook example of such abuse of powers and some of the most dangerous wrongdoings of the organized crime: racketeering, blackmail and extortion by using the resources of the executive power.

Since this document will be published, I did not cite the names of people and institutions to which I reported the criminal wrongdoings of Dusan Mihajlovic, as well as the potential witnesses and their addresses but it goes without saying that I am ready to give this information as well as all connected documentation to the representatives of the prosecutor in direct contact with them.

I emphasize the fact that I possess almost all SMS exchanges with Dusan Mihajlovic, dates and times of his telephone calls, recorded conversations (some even in audio and video format), minutes prepared by my lawyers, signed by witnesses, a number of hotel and other invoices which all confirm my allegations in this statement.

I am ready to provide all this to the representatives of the prosecutor, if you are ready to open an investigation based on the described crimes, which must, I repeat, it is mandatory to prosecute.

Stanko Subotic

Geneva, 9 August 2010

* NB: a portion of citations of Dusan Mihajlovic was based on the recollection whereas a portion was based on the transcriptions of the recorded conversations during our meetings.