FBIS4-7811 "dreeu067_m_94002"
FBIS-EEU-94-067 Daily Report 12 Mar 1994
THE FORMER YUGOSLAV REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA

Government Ties to Organized Crime Examined

Government Ties to Organized Crime Examined 94BA0230A Skopje NOVA MAKEDONIJA in Macedonian 12 Mar 94 p 16 94BA0230A Skopje NOVA MAKEDONIJA Macedonian CSO [Article by Zoran Petrov: "The Thieves Are Not Among Us--We Are Among Them"] [Text] Now there are already numerous indications, information, and above all, facts showing that organized crime exists in Macedonia [The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia -- FYROM] and that among others, individuals from the Macedonian Government's ministries are involved in it. One of the most fundamental characteristics of organized crime is the brutality of its approach, and its basic method is corruption, and directly associated with it, blackmail, threats, and retaliation. Macedonia is one of the few countries in the world where a person can get rich overnight, with just a single deal, arrangement, or transaction. Macedonia is one of the rare places in the world where the laws exist to be evaded, where everything that is not prohibited is automatically permitted, and where one does not go to jail for an illegal shop, for example, or for tax evasion. Macedonia is a sort of unique case, where directors open private firms as partners and competitors of socialized enterprises, where state officials are deeply involved in private business, and where the transformation of state property has been turned into universal theft. In such a legal vacuum, criminals, regardless of whether they are "white collar criminals" or common pickpockets, virtually obtain an alibi for their actions. The period of the transition from one system to another is full of risks and uncertainties, even when it is thoroughly prepared and outlined, and in circumstances like ours today, the danger is doubled. From any aspect, this is a time of various con men and worldly troublemakers. In a situation like the present one, it is evident that there has been a rapid fragmentation of citizens and increasingly deeper dissatisfaction among the public with the striking cases of abuses, machinations, and speculations. The claims that the state authorities do not have a role in such dirty business are stories for little children. In a word, no matter how painful it sounds, the ancient system of a link between economic and political power is slowly coming onto the scene in the Republic of Macedonia; in turn, this is creating the preconditions for reviving the alliance between criminal circles and the state establishment, and in some countries that is called the mafia. Thus, in parallel with the newly established businessmen, murders for hire, threats, blackmail, kidnappings, "rackets," loan sharks, and drug smugglers, have appeared in Macedonia, i.e., everything that "embellishes" a classic mafia.
The Mafia Is in the Government or...
"There is organized crime in Macedonia, and that has to be said openly for once," said Pavle Trajanov, assistant minister for operational affairs in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. What is significant in all this, in his opinion, is that organized crime has slowly begun to penetrate the state's executive branch, since criminal conduct in an organized manner is not possible unless the authorities participate in it, or in our case, individual ministries of the government of the Republic of Macedonia. As our interlocutor emphasized, there are several evident cases of machinations under the leadership of state bodies. One of the most characteristic cases is the process of obtaining a location for the construction of a temporary or permanent building. The Ministries of City Planning, Construction, Transportation, and Ecology participate in issuing the building permit, and the Ministry of Economy for a permit to conduct business, and to these one must add the Ministry of Finance through the tax inspectorate, and the SOK [Public Auditing Service].... In this whole chain, where numerous abuses have appeared, as Trajanov said, it is impossible that some of the institutions cited are not involved. The case of importing products is even more specific. We have analyses for three years back of which firms received import permits and which amounts they imported, Trajanov said, from which it can be clearly seen that all these things revolve around a small number of enterprises which receive import permits, and then simply sell them to another firm and, naturally, in the end the money is shared with the one that provided the permit. In other words, the one who is closer to the authorities through any type of "closeness" gains a privileged status for earning a profit. Thus, there are no built-in criteria for all those who have an interest in importing; instead, protectionist measures are created, through which only a narrow circle of firms are patronized. I can state quite authoritatively that the executive branch bodies are behind all of this, Trajanov said categorically. This highly organized crime has been going on for two years, and high officials in both the production enterprises and the government are participating in it. According to the assistant minister of internal affairs, it is not possible for what is produced and what is marketed not to be recorded without the involvement of some government ministry, since the net profit from just one truckload of cigarettes is about 300,000 German marks [DM]. The basic methodology of organized crime is bribery and corruption. According to our interlocutor, these modes are conducted today in a very perfidious manner. "We have a great deal of information," he emphasized, "that state officials, even government ministers, have private firms, usually in the name of a close relative, through which organized crime takes place. How? The method is very simple--first a permit is obtained for the transit or importation of certain goods into Macedonia, and then the trade in the goods is conducted through one's own firm. Formally, everything is within the law," Pavle Trajanov said, "but the genesis is in the ordinary abuse of one's position. Nevertheless," as our interlocutor emphasized, "the most modern form of organized crime is acting as a middleman." In other words, those who are a factor in decisionmaking only act as middlemen among two or more firms, and receive a commission in return. For example, if there is an offer from some foreign firm, for instance for exporting technical equipment needed by a certain ministry or other state institutions, then the "middleman" appears, and puts the foreign firm in touch with the domestic one and charges a commission for this. This, Trajanov said, constitutes a textbook case of corruption.
...The Government Is in the Mafia
"As police, our hands are tied by several things that keep us from dealing with organized crime efficiently," Pavle Trajanov said. In his opinion, it is impossible for the police, without cooperation with other supervisory bodies in the state, to act on their own in this area, and likewise, another big problem is the still incomplete legal regulations defining certain relationships in the state, which at the moment are actively being exploited by organized crime. Our limitation, our interlocutor emphasized, is the constitutional barrier according to which only letters can be monitored, while the monitoring of telephones and other means of communication is not permitted. If this does not change in a short time, and the use of these operational-technical means that would be used under strictly established legal conditions and by a decision by a competent judge is not permitted, we will only obtain information that we will be able to comment on, but it will be much more difficult for us to obtain evidence, without which criminal proceedings cannot be started, Trajanov stated categorically. Now there are already various indications, information, and above all facts showing that organized crime exists in Macedonia and that above all, the state institutions of the executive branch are involved in it. All of this, Trajanov emphasized, does not force us as the police to restructure ourselves organizationally. It is planned that a special section will be formed soon at the Ministry of Internal Affairs that will deal exclusively with curbing organized crime, and that will possess all the necessary conditions for effective operation. That, above all, means its staffing and professionalization of its operation, as well as providing it with appropriate technical equipment. "I want to emphasize," Trajanov said, "that the Ministry of Internal Affairs is seriously preparing and is already considerably involved in all these matters associated with organized crime. The Ministry of Internal Affairs," he added, "possesses an extensive body of information, and it is known quite well who is involved in these illegal activities, how, and why, including individuals who at the moment are in high government positions."
Parallel Rule by Organized Crime
"Collective organized crime constitutes one of the forms of professional crime which is characterized by a close alliance between professional criminals and law enforcement officials," said Dr. Tome Batkovski, a lecturer at the Security School in Skopje. According to criminologists from Western countries, of which this form of professional crime has been and is most characteristic, organized crime could not exist without connections and assistance from politics and politicians. "Professional criminals' connections with government officials," Batkovski emphasized, "gives representatives of organized crime an enormous advantage over other criminals, precisely because of that protection that they have. There is actually a tremendous threat to the human rights of a large part of the population, just because the center of power goes outside the framework of the legal institutions." The criminal areas of activity of collective organized crime consist of smuggling narcotics, white slavery, smuggling money, gold, and other valuables and cultural goods, smuggling weapons, carrying out paid killings, prostitution, gambling, and recently, selling ecological wastes. According to Dr. Batkovski, the characteristics of the illegal associations whose activity in practice is organized crime are the following: above all, internal organization, structure, the existence of internal standards of conduct with discipline in carrying out assignments, a division of duties, a broad radius of activity, high effectiveness with the use of modern methods, a high degree of maneuverability, and going beyond the national framework. Finally, according to Batkovski, one of the most fundamental characteristics of organized crime is the brutality of its approach, i.e., a lack of scruples, and its basic method is corruption, and directly associated with it, blackmail, threats, and retaliation. Organized crime represents a tremendous social danger, above all because it introduces disorganization in the state, destroys the legal fabric of society, instills distrust among the legal state bodies, and in the case of smaller states, there is a danger of parallel rule by organized crime, which can have unforeseeable consequences for undeveloped countries, including Macedonia. According to Dr. Batkovski, the extent of the power of this form of crime is best illustrated by the case of the Colombian cocaine mafia, which offered to repay part of this country's foreign debt, in the amount of--believe it or not--$28 billion. In return, the Colombian Government was supposed to refuse to extradite the captured heads of the drug mafia to the United States. Dr. Batkovski stressed that this is a vital example of the enormous power of organized crime. "We are talking about an extremely serious matter, and I think that the struggle against this organized crime has to be an integral part of a national strategy in the broader sense," our interlocutor emphasized. "Without that, through palliative and partial solutions, nothing can be achieved," Tome Batkovski said in conclusion.
[Box, p 16]
Batkovski: "Organized Crime Should Not Be Underestimated"
"If we are talking about the struggle against organized crime, we should note once again that it possess enormous power and influence. It is precisely for that reason that it is always one step ahead of society in the use of modern methods and resources. That means that in curbing it, the state's expert bodies and services have to keep up to date, and stay in step with the methods and resources used by representatives of organized crime. From the standpoint of its organization, modern operational services have to be created that will be capable of maneuvering quickly and adapting to organized crime's methods and resources, but on the other hand, that requires a societal guarantee to the employees of these services--not just by ensuring the safety of their families, but also in their salaries, since it is an illusion that an employee with a salary of DM300 or DM400 will objectively be capable of dealing with illegal activities in which hundreds of thousands or millions of German marks are involved."
[Box, p 16]
Trajanov: "Some Political Parties Are Also Financed by Dirty
Deals" "I can authoritatively state that the mafia in Macedonia is assuming an increasingly larger scale and is threatening to grow into a parallel state government. Likewise, I stand behind the assertion that numerous people in authority are also involved in organized crime in our country, especially in the Macedonian government's ministries. Those who are now enriching themselves this way will slowly and surely achieve influence in political life as well. We already possess information that certain political parties are being financed by such dirty deals and `businesses.' In other words, someone who invests in a certain political party will subsequently demand compensation, i.e., greater political influence and participation in the division of power in the country. All the preconditions now exist for a high degree of corrosion in the state, and the consequences are truly extremely dangerous. Unless Macedonia urgently undertakes something in the area of legal regulations and the internal organization of all structures and supervising bodies, I think that in two or three years we will find ourselves in the same situation as some of the neighboring countries."