ROME, June (Hina/AR) - The money Italy's Telecom paid for the purchase of 29 percent of the Serbian Telecom in 1997 was deposited into the accounts of three fictitious off-shore companies in Cyprus, belonging to Slobodan Milosevic,
reads the Italian daily "Corriere della Sera" of Sunday.
ROME, June (Hina/AR) - The money Italy's Telecom paid for the
purchase of 29 percent of the Serbian Telecom in 1997 was deposited
into the accounts of three fictitious off-shore companies in
Cyprus, belonging to Slobodan Milosevic, reads the Italian daily
"Corriere della Sera" of Sunday. #L#
The paper bases its claims on the findings of financial
investigators, who traced Milosevic's wealth at the request of the
international war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The
Hague (ICTY). The investigators have discovered that 500 million
euros, paid on June 16, 1997, was deposited in the accounts of three
fictitious companies in Cyprus, which can be connected to the
former Yugoslav president.
Only two weeks before this payment was made, the Italian Telecom
paid the authorities in Belgrade around 260 million euros. This
money was probably transferred to the accounts in Cyprus, reads the
daily.
It is believed that the money of other Italian companies has
probably ended up in Milosevic's and his associates' accounts as
well. The amount in question totals 650 million euros, says the
daily. Milosevic's associates deposited a total of seven million
euros in four Swiss banks. These funds have been frozen by the Swiss
authorities.
(hina) rml