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RFE/RL Newsline, Vol. 4, No. 40, 00-02-25

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty: Newsline Directory - Previous Article - Next Article

From: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty <http://www.rferl.org>

RFE/RL NEWSLINE

Vol. 4, No. 40, 25 February 2000


CONTENTS

[A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

  • [01] FORMER KARABAKH DEFENSE MINISTER DENIES PRESIDENTIAL
  • [02] AZERBAIJANI JOURNALISTS HINDERED IN COVERING TRIAL OF PRISON
  • [03] OIL EXPORTS FROM AZERBAIJAN VIA RUSSIA RESUMED
  • [04] RUSSIA WARNS AZERBAIJAN OVER ALLEGED CHECHEN PRESENCE...
  • [05] ...AS TURKEY REFUSES TO ALLOW CHECHENS TO CROSS BORDER FROM
  • [06] BRITISH FOREIGN MINISTER VISITS GEORGIA
  • [07] CORRECTION:
  • [08] KAZAKHSTAN'S PRESIDENT REAFFIRMS COMMITMENT TO
  • [09] ...ENUMERATES REGIONAL SECURITY CONCERNS
  • [10] KYRGYZSTAN SCHEDULES PARLIAMENTARY RUNOFFS
  • [11] TURKEY, U.S. SEEK TO PERSUADE TURKMENISTAN OF PIPELINE

  • [B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

  • [12] NATO TO DECIDE ON INCREASING KFOR TROOPS
  • [13] MITROVICA REPORTED CALM
  • [14] RED CROSS SAYS NEARLY 3,000 STILL MISSING IN KOSOVA
  • [15] SERBIAN OPPOSITION LEADER CHARGED...
  • [16] ...WHILE OPPOSITION-RUN TELEVISION STATION FINED
  • [17] BOSNIAN SERB LEADER CRITICIZES IDEA OF POWER TRANSFER
  • [18] PETRITSCH MEETS WITH CROATIAN PRESIDENT
  • [19] CROATIAN PARLIAMENT CUTS SALARIES, BUT NOT AS MUCH AS
  • [20] MACEDONIAN PRESIDENT DEFENDS ARMY ALERT
  • [21] SLOVENIAN GOVERNMENT IN DANGER OF LOSING MAJORITY
  • [22] ALBANIA, MONTENEGRO REOPEN BORDER CROSSING
  • [23] ROMANIAN MINISTER 'APOLOGIZES' TO PRESIDENT CONSTANTINESCU
  • [24] MAVERICK ROMANIAN SENATOR JOINS OPPOSITION PARTY
  • [25] TIMISOARA JEWISH COMMUNITY PROTESTS AGAINST ANTI-SEMITIC
  • [26] GAZPROM HALTS GAS DELIVERIES TO MOLDOVA
  • [27] BULGARIAN PRESIDENT ASKS GHADDAFI TO INTERVENE IN TRIAL
  • [28] BULGARIA, ROMANIA AGREE ON LOCATION OF NEW DANUBE BRIDGE

  • [C] END NOTE

  • [29] CROATIA'S NEW LEADERS LOOK TO FIGHT CORRUPTION AND CRONYISM

  • [A] TRANSCAUCASUS AND CENTRAL ASIA

    [01] FORMER KARABAKH DEFENSE MINISTER DENIES PRESIDENTIAL

    AMBITIONS

    In a statement issued in Stepanakert on 24

    February, General Samvel Babayan denied that he intends to

    run for president of the unrecognized Nagorno-Karabakh

    Republic, RFE/RL's Yerevan bureau reported. He added that he

    has not yet decided to participate in the enclave's upcoming

    parliamentary elections. Babayan's brother Karen, who is

    mayor of Stepanakert, had predicted in a recent interview

    with the Armenian newspaper "Aravot" that Samvel will one day

    become president of Nagorno-Karabakh. Samvel Babayan was

    dismissed as defense minister last summer following a

    standoff with Karabakh President Arkadii Ghukasian. He was

    also ousted as commander in chief of the Nagorno-Karabakh

    Defense Army in December (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 3 August and

    17 December 1999). LF

    [02] AZERBAIJANI JOURNALISTS HINDERED IN COVERING TRIAL OF PRISON

    INSURGENTS

    Journalists from several Azerbaijani newspapers

    said at a press briefing in Baku on 24 February that they are

    being subjected to pressure and harassment by the Azerbaijani

    Ministry of Justice. They said that pressure is part of an

    attempt to limit media coverage of the trial of participants

    in what the Azerbaijani authorities claim was a mutiny at a

    high security jail near Baku in January 1999, Turan reported.

    That trial opened in Baku last month (see "RFE/RL Newsline,"

    26 January 2000). The journalists attribute the authorities'

    reluctance to allow journalists to attend the trial to

    discrepancies between the official version of what happened

    and claims by prisoners' relatives that the alleged mutiny

    was staged in order to facilitate the murder of former

    General Vahid Musaev. Musaev was sentenced on charges of

    planning in 1995 to assassinate President Heidar Aliev. He

    was one of 11 prisoners shot dead by guards during the

    alleged insurrection (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 11 January

    1999). LF

    [03] OIL EXPORTS FROM AZERBAIJAN VIA RUSSIA RESUMED

    The

    Azerbaijan International Operating Company (AIOC), the only

    international consortium currently exporting oil from the

    Azerbaijani section of the Caspian, has resumed transporting

    crude through the Baku-Novorossiisk pipeline, Caucasus Press

    reported on 24 February. Azerbaijan's state oil company

    SOCAR, which previously used that pipeline, stopped doing so

    last month in order to conserve domestic crude for use for

    heating purposes (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 13 January 2000).

    The AIOC is now exporting 12,000 tons of oil daily via

    Novorossiisk in addition to the oil it exports via Georgia's

    Black Sea port of Supsa. LF

    [04] RUSSIA WARNS AZERBAIJAN OVER ALLEGED CHECHEN PRESENCE...

    The

    Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement on 24 February

    expressing the hope that "the territory of Azerbaijan will

    not be used for anti-Russian purposes," ITAR-TASS reported.

    The statement was pegged to media reports that injured

    Chechen fighters are undergoing medical treatment in Baku

    hospitals. Interfax in early January quoted the Chechen

    representation in Baku as saying that some 100 civilians

    injured during Russian bombing raids in Chechnya were

    receiving medical treatment in Azerbaijan. LF

    [05] ...AS TURKEY REFUSES TO ALLOW CHECHENS TO CROSS BORDER FROM

    GEORGIA

    Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said on 24

    February that Ankara will provide humanitarian aid for

    Chechen refugees in Georgia but will not allow an estimated

    300 Chechens now stranded at the Georgian-Turkish border to

    enter Turkey, Reuters and Caucasus Press reported. Georgian

    Interior Minister Kakha Targamadze, who is currently visiting

    Ankara, told the Anatolia News Agency that Turkey refuses to

    admit the Chechens as they do not have valid passports or

    identification. LF

    [06] BRITISH FOREIGN MINISTER VISITS GEORGIA

    Visiting Tbilisi on

    25 February, Robin Cook met with Georgian President Eduard

    Shevardnadze, Minister of State Vazha Lortkipanidze, Foreign

    Minister Irakli Menagharishvili, and parliamentary speaker

    Zurab Zhvania, ITAR-TASS reported. Cook pledged his support

    for Georgia's independence, territorial integrity, and

    integration into Euro-Atlantic structures, including NATO,

    according to AP. He and Shevardnadze focused on the war in

    Chechnya and the situation on the Chechen sector of the

    Russian-Georgian border. They also discussed the prospects

    for a peaceful solution of the Abkhaz conflict. LF

    [07] CORRECTION:

    Based on an erroneous Caucasus Press dispatch,

    "RFE/RL Newsline" on 24 February incorrectly reported that

    USAID and the International Committee of the Red Cross have

    signed an agreement on aid for Georgian displaced persons.

    That agreement was in fact signed by USAID and the

    International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent

    Societies.

    [08] KAZAKHSTAN'S PRESIDENT REAFFIRMS COMMITMENT TO

    DEMOCRATIZATION...

    Addressing a session of the OSCE Permanent

    Council in Vienna on 24 February, Nursultan Nazarbaev

    acknowledged the "universal character" of the criteria

    applied by the OSCE to compliance with democratic norms, but

    at the same time he appealed for "a good understanding" of

    the situation in Central Asia, Interfax reported. Nazarbaev

    argued that "it is impossible for legal innovations to bridge

    the gap between new institutions and old models of behavior

    in a short time." The OSCE criticized both the presidential

    and the parliamentary elections in Kazakhstan last year as

    failing to meet international standards. Nazarbaev rejected

    that criticism, saying that Kazakhstan will choose its own

    approach and timeframe for gradual democratization. LF

    [09] ...ENUMERATES REGIONAL SECURITY CONCERNS

    Nazarbaev also told

    the OSCE that it is imperative to prevent the "Balkanization"

    of Central Asia, Interfax reported. He said the region's

    enormous energy potential can be successfully developed only

    if existing problems between regional states are resolved.

    Nazarbaev said one of the main medium-term problems facing

    the Central Asian states is international terrorism and

    extremism stemming from Afghanistan, and he appealed for the

    assistance of the international community and the OSCE in

    combating those threats. It is unclear whether Nazarbaev

    addressed the possible interaction between the OSCE and the

    Asian regional security forum, which Kazakhstan advocates

    (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 15 September 1999). LF

    [10] KYRGYZSTAN SCHEDULES PARLIAMENTARY RUNOFFS

    A second round of

    voting has been scheduled for 12 March for all but three of

    the 90 single-mandate seats in the upper and lower chambers

    of the new Kyrgyz parliament, RFE/RL's Bishkek bureau

    reported on 24 February citing the Central Electoral

    Commission. Several opposition candidates have said they will

    appeal to the prosecutor-general against what they term

    falsification and procedural violations that deprived them of

    a first-round win. Also on 24 February, the CEC issued

    revised results of the party list voting, raising from five

    to six the number of political parties that surmounted the 5

    percent minimum required for parliamentary representation.

    The sixth party is the pro-presidential My Country. LF

    [11] TURKEY, U.S. SEEK TO PERSUADE TURKMENISTAN OF PIPELINE

    BENEFITS

    Turkey's Deputy Foreign Minister Mithat Balkan and

    U.S. special adviser for Caspian energy issues John Wolf held

    talks in Ashgabat on 24 February with Turkmenistan's

    President Saparmurat Niyazov, Interfax reported. Balkan

    delivered personal assurances to Niyazov from Turkish

    President Suleyman Demirel that Ankara is committed to the

    swift construction of the planned Trans-Caspian pipeline to

    export Turkmen gas to Turkey. Niyazov had said last week that

    that project would not be viable if Azerbaijan insists on the

    use of 50 percent of the pipeline's throughput capacity (see

    "RFE/RL Newsline," 22 February 2000). In Moscow, Russian Fuel

    and Energy Minister Viktor Kalyuzhnyi told journalists on 24

    February that he supports the bid by Gazprom to conclude a

    rival agreement under which Turkmenistan would export much of

    its natural gas via Russia, ITAR-TASS reported. LF


    [B] SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE

    [12] NATO TO DECIDE ON INCREASING KFOR TROOPS

    The North Atlantic

    Council, NATO's policy-making body, will hold an emergency

    meeting on 25 February to discuss the situation in the

    Kosovar city of Mitrovica and decide on a request to increase

    KFOR troops in the province, Reuters reported. General Wesley

    Clark, NATO's supreme commander in Europe, requested the

    previous day that 2,000 troops be added to KFOR and sent to

    Mitrovica to help the peacekeepers there contain the violence

    that has led to several deaths. France has said it will

    contribute 700 to the extra contingent. U.S. President Bill

    Clinton supports the increase, but Washington has not yet

    decided if it will augment KFOR. The U.S. currently has 5,500

    troops in Kosova out of KFOR's total 37,400. The UN,

    meanwhile, has announced that it will begin resettling ethnic

    Albanians in their former homes in the northern part of the

    city, which is controlled by Serbs. PB

    [13] MITROVICA REPORTED CALM

    Tensions in the violence-torn town

    were reported to be diminishing after KFOR troops announced

    they had finished conducting weapons searches in residential

    areas, Reuters reported on 25 February. In all, some 50 guns,

    ammunition, nine hand-grenades, and one rocket-propelled

    grenade were confiscated. Yugoslavia accused the West of

    fomenting the unrest, with Yugoslav Deputy Premier Nikola

    Sainovic saying "the sequence of events clearly showed that

    it was a planned and coordinated scenario." Western officials

    charged Belgrade the previous day with instigating the

    violence (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 24 February 2000). On 24

    February, The UN chief in Kosova, Bernard Kouchner, met with

    Oliver Ivanovic, the leader of the Serbian community in

    Mitrovica. Ivanovic said after the meeting that he is

    prepared to talk with the town's ethnic Albanian leaders. PB

    [14] RED CROSS SAYS NEARLY 3,000 STILL MISSING IN KOSOVA

    The

    International Red Cross said on 24 February that 2,987 people

    are unaccounted for in Kosova, AP reported. The majority are

    ethnic Albanians, but the figure includes some 400 Serbs as

    well as Roma. Of the total, 1,875 are reported to be held by

    Yugoslav forces. PB

    [15] SERBIAN OPPOSITION LEADER CHARGED...

    Dusan Mihajlovic, leader

    of the opposition New Democracy party, was indicted by the

    Belgrade public prosecutor on 24 February on charges of

    spreading false information, Beta reported. Mihajlovic said

    he "publicly expressed my and my party's political stands and

    it's up to the citizens and the general public to judge

    them." Mihajlovic faces three years in prison if convicted.

    He said he expects to be arrested. PB

    [16] ...WHILE OPPOSITION-RUN TELEVISION STATION FINED

    Studio B TV

    was fined some $20,000 on 24 February because a guest on a

    talk show criticized a police investigation, AP reported. The

    news agency Beta said the fine was imposed because a lawyer

    from the opposition Serbian Renewal Movement criticized the

    police investigation of a car crash last October that left

    four people dead (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 4 October 1999).

    Studio B is the official television station of the city of

    Belgrade. PB

    [17] BOSNIAN SERB LEADER CRITICIZES IDEA OF POWER TRANSFER

    Zivko

    Radisic, the Serbian member of the presidency of Bosnia-

    Herzegovina, said on 24 February that the idea of

    cantonization "would completely undermine the Dayton peace

    concept" in Bosnia, Radio Bosnia-Herzegovina reported.

    Radisic was responding to comments made by several Bosnian-

    Croat officials the previous day that they are willing to

    transfer powers of the Muslim-Croatian Federation to a

    central government. Radisic said he opposes that idea, adding

    that if some institutions in the entities that make up the

    federation are "not functioning," it does not mean they

    should be abolished. The office of the international

    community's high representative and the current chairman of

    the Bosnian presidency, Alija Izetbegovic, both said the same

    day that they support the proposal. Such a change would mean

    the abolition of the Muslim-Croatian Federation and the

    Republika Srpska, the two entities that make up Bosnia. PB

    [18] PETRITSCH MEETS WITH CROATIAN PRESIDENT

    Bosnia's High

    Representative Wolfgang Petritisch met on 24 February with

    Stipe Mesic in Zagreb, Croatian Radio reported. Petritsch

    said he stressed the importance of implementing key points of

    the 1995 Dayton agreement, particularly the return of

    refugees. Petritsch said no changes to the agreement can be

    made until Dayton is fully implemented. Mesic stressed his

    government's commitment to repatriating the refugees but said

    Zagreb will need financial aid for this purpose because

    "homes must be repaired and economic resources activated." PB

    [19] CROATIAN PARLIAMENT CUTS SALARIES, BUT NOT AS MUCH AS

    PROMISED

    Croatian deputies voted on 24 February to reduce

    their salaries and those of other government officials by

    some 27 percent, Croatian Radio reported. The cut was lower

    than the 40 percent proposed by the cabinet and promised by

    the winning coalition during the election campaign. Deputies

    will now receive 12,700 kuna ($1,630) a month--about four

    times the average salary in Croatia. The president will

    receive some $3,000 per month and ministers $2,000. A labor

    union said the parliament's first decision showed

    "unbelievable selfishness." PB

    [20] MACEDONIAN PRESIDENT DEFENDS ARMY ALERT

    Boris Trajkovski

    said on 24 February that he was forced to put his armed

    forces on higher alert because of "tense movements around

    southern Serbia," AFP reported. Trajkovski, who is in Vilnius

    on a two-day visit, said Macedonia had to react to changes in

    Serbia (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 24 February 2000). PB

    [21] SLOVENIAN GOVERNMENT IN DANGER OF LOSING MAJORITY

    The 24

    February announcement of a merger between the People's Party

    and the opposition Christian Democrats is threatening Prime

    Minister Janez Drnovsek's coalition government, Radio

    Slovenia reported. The People's Party have 19 seats in the

    90-seat parliament, and if it went over to the opposition,

    the government would have only 30 seats. It has not been

    announced when the merger of the two parties will take place.

    Some opposition parties, including the Social Democrats, have

    said they would support a minority government. PB

    [22] ALBANIA, MONTENEGRO REOPEN BORDER CROSSING

    Albanian Deputy

    Foreign Minister Pellumb Xhufi and his Montenegrin

    counterpart, Veselin Sukovic, signed an agreement in Shkoder

    on 24 February reopening the only border crossing between the

    two countries, at Hani i Hotit--Bozaj, AP reported. Yugoslav

    officials closed the crossing three years ago. It was used by

    tens of thousands of Kosovar Albanians fleeing Serbian troops

    last year. In other news, the World Bank approved a $10

    million loan to Tirana for improve the water supply in the

    towns of Durres, Fier, Lezhe, and Saranda. PB

    [23] ROMANIAN MINISTER 'APOLOGIZES' TO PRESIDENT CONSTANTINESCU

    Democratic Party Deputy Chairman Traian Basescu told Antena 1

    Television on 24 February that he is "retracting" what he

    said about President Emil Constantinescu's alleged

    involvement in the resignation of Victor Babiuc from the

    Democratic Party. He added, however, that he continues to

    believe Constantinescu was involved. Basescu also commented

    that he should not have said that the National Liberal Party

    (PNL) had "stolen" the Senate's chairmanship from the

    Democrats, but rather should have said the post was "taken"

    from his party, RFE/RL's Bucharest bureau reported. The PNL

    commented earlier that it would not accept Babiuc's

    replacement as defense minister until Basescu had apologized.

    Tension between the Democrats and the PNL continues to mount

    after PNL National Council Chairman Nicolae Manolescu said on

    national television on 24 February that the coalition could

    survive without the Democrats and "it might be better if they

    left it." MS

    [24] MAVERICK ROMANIAN SENATOR JOINS OPPOSITION PARTY

    George

    Pruteanu, who was expelled from the National Peasant Party

    Christian Democratic (PNTCD) in March 1998 for his opposition

    to improving the education rights of the Hungarian minority,

    said on 24 February he has joined the opposition Party of

    Social Democracy in Romania. Also on 24 February, the PNTCD

    suffered yet another defection when deputy Lia Galic resigned

    from its ranks. And former Interior Minister Gavril Dejeu

    said he is resigning all his positions in the PNTCD but will

    remain a party member. MS

    [25] TIMISOARA JEWISH COMMUNITY PROTESTS AGAINST ANTI-SEMITIC

    GRAFFITI

    Rabbi Ernst Neumann of Timisoara on 24 February

    urged the town's local authorities to take legal action

    against unidentified individuals who have begun daubing anti-

    Semitic graffiti and swastikas on city walls and trams over

    the past month, AP reported. He said he believed this

    development should be seen against the background of Joerg

    Haider's success in the Austrian elections. MS

    [26] GAZPROM HALTS GAS DELIVERIES TO MOLDOVA

    Gazprom on 25

    February made good its threat to cut gas deliveries to

    Moldova because of that country's failure to pay its debt

    accrued since the beginning of this year (see "RFE/RL

    Newsline," 23 February 2000), Infotag and ITAR-TASS reported.

    On 24 February, the Moldovan government had urged the

    population to "stay calm" and pay all utilities bills. MS

    [27] BULGARIAN PRESIDENT ASKS GHADDAFI TO INTERVENE IN TRIAL

    Petar Stoyanov on 24 February asked his Libyan counterpart,

    Muammar Ghaddafi, to intervene on behalf of the six

    Bulgarians facing the death penalty in Libya (see "RFE/RL

    Newsline," 24 February 2000), BTA reported. Stoyanov offered

    condolences for the death of children infected with the HIV

    virus but said he cannot believe his countrymen are guilty of

    having deliberately "caused such a tragedy." He asked

    Ghaddafi to "use his influence" to have the 28 February trial

    postponed to allow Bulgarian lawyers to familiarize

    themselves with the case and defend the accused. Reuters

    cited Justice Minister Teodossyi Simeonov as saying he and

    Prosecutor-General Nikola Filichev will fly to Libya to offer

    legal assistance to the accused. MS

    [28] BULGARIA, ROMANIA AGREE ON LOCATION OF NEW DANUBE BRIDGE

    Experts representing Bulgaria and Romania agreed in Brussels

    on 23 February that the new bridge over the River Danube will

    be constructed between Vidin and Calafat. This is the

    proposal that Bulgaria has favored since talks began. Sofia

    will cover all the costs of the project, Petko Tabakov,

    deputy transportation and communications minister, told

    Bulgarian Radio, according to BTA. Speaking in Vidin one day

    earlier, President Petar Stoyanov said that "many more

    bridges" must be built over the river to promote the two

    countries' bid to become part of European and NATO

    structures. MS


    [C] END NOTE

    [29] CROATIA'S NEW LEADERS LOOK TO FIGHT CORRUPTION AND CRONYISM

    By Andrej Krickovic

    Less that a month has passed since Prime Minister Ivica

    Racan's government took office. The ministers are already

    living up to their promises to fight corruption and put an

    end to the system of cronyism that characterized the rule of

    the late President Franjo Tudjman and his Croatian Democratic

    Community (HDZ).

    Just hours after the new ministers took their oaths,

    police arrested outgoing Minister of Tourism Ivan Herak on

    embezzlement charges. A week later, police arrested Croatian

    businessman Miroslav Kutle, the country's most-famous

    "tycoon"--a term Croats have adopted to describe the class of

    newly rich entrepreneurs politically connected to the former

    regime. In the eyes of many Croats, Kutle is a symbol of the

    "robber-baron" style of privatization that has left the

    economy in ruins.

    is accused of enticing officials at the zdistribution

    company Tisak to embezzle more than $6 million from the

    company. Tisak holds a virtual monopoly on print media

    distribution in Croatia, and with more than $500,000 in gross

    sales daily, it is one of the country's few cash-cows. Before

    Kutle bought into the company five years ago, Tisak posted

    revenues of $2.5 million. Today, the company faces bankruptcy

    and $30 million in debts. Most of this money was either

    sucked out through embezzlement scams or is debt that Tisak

    has had to take over for loans that it backed for Kutle's

    companies and on which those companies later defaulted.

    This is only the tip of the iceberg. In its heyday,

    Kutle's holding company Globus Group owned a controlling

    interest in more than 176 companies, and his business empire

    was estimated to be worth more than $500 million. Since then,

    millions of dollars have disappeared from firms owned by

    Globus Group, and most of those firms face bankruptcy today.

    Globus Group itself is nearly $500 million in debt.

    Kutle's exploits would have been impossible without the

    help and protection of high-ranking government officials. The

    party and state leadership directly promoted the rise of

    Kutle and others like him. In fact, they made this a part of

    the official HDZ practice. Tudjman believed that the

    country's wealth should be concentrated in the hands of 100

    families politically loyal to his party.

    Kutle and other "tycoons" used their political

    connections and membership in the HDZ to acquire shares in

    state-owned companies. In many cases, these purchases of

    shares were covered by loans from banks, privatization funds,

    and other financial institutions that were also in HDZ hands.

    In return, the tycoons helped to fill ruling party

    coffers. They also did much of the HDZ's dirty work. During

    the early 1990s, "Slobodna Dalmacija" was one of the most

    important voices of opposition and hence an irritation to

    Tudjman's regime. Under the HDZ's direction, Kutle acquired a

    controlling interest in the paper. Independent journalists

    and editors were quickly forced to leave, and "Slobodna

    Dalmacija" became a regime mouthpiece almost overnight. The

    party also helped Kutle acquire a controlling interest in

    Tisak in order to keep the distribution of print media in

    party hands.

    These policies, which wreaked havoc on the country's

    economy, prompted the new government to consider carrying out

    a revision of the entire privatization process. The tycoons'

    irresponsible lending policies also led to a banking crisis

    last year that caused the collapse of a dozen banks.

    Professor Vladimir Veselica of Zagreb University estimates

    that nearly $7 billion have been illegally transferred out of

    the country since 1990. Most experts agree that there is very

    little chance that even a fraction of these funds will be

    recovered.

    During the election campaign, the new government

    promised to clean up the Augean stables left behind by the

    HDZ. It will be interesting to see whether the new

    authorities will be willing to prosecute Kutle's political

    sponsors in addition to the tycoon himself. For his part,

    Kutle has claimed that he was carrying out the orders of

    higher authorities. His testimony may implicate several

    highly-placed officials from the former government, including

    former Prime Minister Zlatko Matesa, former Interior Minister

    Ivan Penic, and Ivic Pasalic, who was the late president's

    domestic-policy adviser and is the current vice president of

    the parliament.

    But it will be difficult for the new authorities to

    prosecute these people. Many of them enjoy immunity because

    they are members of the parliament. They will also argue that

    they are being prosecuted for political reasons.

    In fact, the new government, which faces a host of

    pressing economic and social problems, may not want that

    challenge. Some observers believe the new authorities will be

    satisfied with Kutle's head and that they will delay or even

    forgo prosecuting these cases in the interest of social peace

    and political cohesion.

    But in the final analysis, the new government may have

    no choice but to investigate and prosecute. If the

    authorities are truly committed to establishing the rule of

    law and ending the system of cronyism that has impoverished

    the country, they will have to put political considerations

    aside and pursue the Kutle affair and similar cases--no

    matter where the trail of guilt may lead.

    The author is Zagreb-based writer on Balkan affairs.

    25-02-00


    Reprinted with permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
    URL: http://www.rferl.org


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