ZAGREB MOB TRIAL ZAGREB, Nov 22 (Hina) - The testimony of Tomislav Marinac, the first person in the history of Croatian judiciary to testify about the crimes of the Zagreb mob, to which he belonged, in exchange for his freedom,
started at the Zagreb County Court prison at Remetinec. The indictment charges 13 Zagreb mobsters with association into a criminal organisation, murder, attempted murder, extortion, drug dealing and other serious criminal acts. Marinac gave an account of how he ended up in what he described as an irreversible process of owing money to the mob. He said that he had become a part of the organisation because he had become indebted as a guarantor for his friend Andjelko Turudic. Turudic had borrowed DM10,000 from Rajko Momcilovic and Davor Zecevic, fifth and seventh on the indictment. The loan was to have been returned after only several days with a 30 percent interest, but Turudic did not return the mon
ZAGREB, Nov 22 (Hina) - The testimony of Tomislav Marinac, the first
person in the history of Croatian judiciary to testify about the
crimes of the Zagreb mob, to which he belonged, in exchange for his
freedom, started at the Zagreb County Court prison at Remetinec.
The indictment charges 13 Zagreb mobsters with association into a
criminal organisation, murder, attempted murder, extortion, drug
dealing and other serious criminal acts.
Marinac gave an account of how he ended up in what he described as an
irreversible process of owing money to the mob.
He said that he had become a part of the organisation because he had
become indebted as a guarantor for his friend Andjelko Turudic.
Turudic had borrowed DM10,000 from Rajko Momcilovic and Davor
Zecevic, fifth and seventh on the indictment. The loan was to have
been returned after only several days with a 30 percent interest,
but Turudic did not return the money.
Although he gave Momcilovic and Zecevic DM3,000 every month for
four months as interest, Marinac said his debt was not settled
because subsequent unpaid interest was added to the capital amount
and the debt climbed to "a very serious amount."
"Until then I was not acquainted with that type of calculation of
interest so I visited the boys in Knezija (a Zagreb neighbourhood)
and they told me they had also borrowed money so I had to paid them,"
Marinac said.
The witness said he had told Momcilovic and Zecevic that Turudic's
firm had gone bankrupt and he had no source to return the money from
so the two men proposed a solution. They proposed that Marinac and
Turudic establish a firm which would order large quantities of
goods with delayed payment.
After several months, the firm started operating, and the food
products and appliances which it obtained from various companies
through acceptance orders were stored in several garages
Momcilovic owned. When the time for paying the ordered goods came,
the company was closed down and Momcilovic tried to sell the goods
on the black market.
Today's hearing was discontinued because one of the indictees,
Miroslav Vukovic, felt sick.
Before Marinac's testimony, the defence requested that the
prosecution state what "privileges" the witness had been granted in
this and other investigative proceedings.
The prosecution opposed this request as well as a proposal that it
state whether it had entered any other "arrangements" with other
indictees.
The defence also protested against Marinac's making statements in
the media on several occasions, including an interview with the
latest issue of 'Globus' weekly, in which a large part of his
testimony of today was published.
The trial will resume on Monday, when Marinac is to continue his
testimony.
(hina) rml ,