YUGOSLAVIA TRACING MILOSEVIC'S BANK ACCOUNTS

BELGRADE, March 15 (Hina) - The governor of the National Bank of Yugoslavia, Mladjan Dinkic, said on Thursday he forwarded the Cypriot authorities a list with the names of 17 off-shore companies and the numbers of bank accounts related to the outflow of cash from Yugoslavia between 1989 and 2001. "On the basis of what we now have, there are elements for initiating criminal proceedings against many people," Dinkic said after his return from a three-day visit to Nicosia, where he and Cypriot officials discussed cooperation regarding the transfer of money from Yugoslavia to Cyprus during the rule of Slobodan Milosevic. Dinkic declined to comment on concrete amounts, adding only "the amounts are huge as was the range of the transactions." An illegal transaction, worth several million US dollars, onto the account of Milosevic's close relative has been discovered, he said, refusing to reveal any other details. According to Dinkic, until the introduction of sanctions against Yugoslavia in 1992, cash from Yugoslavia had been transported to Cyprus by Yugoslav Air Transport (JAT) planes and was put mostly onto the accounts of the Belgrade Bank, whereas from 1992 onward it arrived to Cyprus from all directions and was put mostly on the accounts of Cypriot banks. Dinkic said Cyprus was most willing to cooperate, and he expected Switzerland, Greece, China and South Africa would cooperate too. Five inspectors of the National Bank of Yugoslavia have stayed on Cyprus to investigate sizeable documentation they have been granted access to, Dinkic said, adding their job would be very difficult "because money moves quickly and we have to literally cover the entire world." (hina) sb rml