THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, March 3 (Hina) - Serbia was in an economic federation with two Serb entities that existed in Croatia and Bosnia during the 1990s wars, according to a report compiled by financial experts which was entered as evidence
at the trial of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic before the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague on Monday.
THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, March 3 (Hina) - Serbia was in an economic
federation with two Serb entities that existed in Croatia and
Bosnia during the 1990s wars, according to a report compiled by
financial experts which was entered as evidence at the trial of
former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic before the U.N. war
crimes tribunal in The Hague on Monday. #L#
Serbia, the so-called Republic of Serb Krajina (RSK) in Croatia and
the Republic of Srpska in Bosnia (RS) were in the economic
federation in which the accused made all decisions on financing
outside Serbia, said Morten Torkilsen, a financial expert from
Norway.
Chief prosecutor Geoffrey Nice said the report was of great value
for the court that was based on a huge quantity of material and
witness statements.
The report states that when he was president of Serbia Milosevic
controlled the republic's customs revenue that he illegally used to
finance Serbia's interior ministry and rebel Serbs in Croatia and
Bosnia. He later did the same with revenue from the Yugoslav
customs.
Milosevic used Serbia's interior ministry and state security
service (SDB) as an alternative military until he took over full
control over the JNA, ex-Yugoslavia's federal army. Evidence
entered so far has shown that volunteers were trained at the SDB and
sent to the fronts.
Torkilsen said eight Serbian companies were also used for illegal
financing with money from republic and federal funds. This was done
on instructions from Borka Vucic, a banker trusted by Milosevic,
while the Yugoslav Army was later also involved, he said.
The financial report is also based on conversations with former
customs director Mihalj Kertes, according to Nice a potential Hague
indictee, former Yugoslav Finance Minister Jovan Zebic, and former
Yugoslav Deputy Prime Minister Nikola Sainovic.
The defendant slammed the report and prosecutor Nice, claiming the
report was upside down and confusing because of the "prosecutor's
bad intentions and lack of knowledge".
"So what if we helped the Yugoslav Army, RS and RSK?" said
Milosevic. The Vatican, Germany, and the U.S. helped Croats and
Saudi Arabia Muslims, so how could Serbia not have helped Serbs, he
wondered.
"I led the economic policy under economic sanctions the best I
could," he said, stating his successful averting of a crash under
"genocidal sanctions" would enter "the annals of economic politics
and be studied".
Former SDB head Radomir Markovic testified about the illegal
management of customs revenue during the part of the trial which
covered crimes committed in Kosovo. He said last July that
Milosevic personally ordered using funds from the federal customs
administration to purchase military equipment for SDB units.
(hina) ha sb