The poverty, lack of education, apathy, and the inherited fear of authorities create perfect conditions for the establishment of the Columbian state model. The current problems are distribution of frequences, chaos and illegality in that area.

Monopolists and tycoons keep robbing our citizens

The general impresion is that the Anti-Corruption Council tends to be inactive these days. Do you believe that its anticipated dismissal has anything to do with this?

-In the past few months, the media showed indiference for the work of the Council. Some of them, like the Radio Television of Serbia, have been completely ignoring the Council in the past five years. For some months we have been answering the questions made by the press, but they were never published. It sems as if the media are run by someone more powerful than the Government itself, and the shameful campaign against Ms Ivana Dulic –Markovic confirms this. Also, such campaigns prove that the media are not free, but rather a cover for some other disputes, having no connection with journalism and citizens’ interest. 

Can you name the major corruption affairs in Serbia?

-The Council has no interest in affairs, but cases of large scale, grand corruption because of which it is imposible to talk about the protection of the public interest, establishment of the institutions, and the rule of law. Affairs are created by media, or other authorites, and then made public in order to blur the core of the problem. Media owners are satisfied, profit is rising, the citizens are led to believe something has been done, and fail to notice that the state bodies which they pay for do not investigate the reasons for this major violation of law, plunder, and squandering of the state property.

What damage has been inflicted on the state, i.e. its citizens?

-The purpose of the corruption affairs is to aquaire wealth by plundering state, social, and citizens’ property. It is not difficult to calculate the profit monopolist make because the anti-monopoly regulations are not implemented, or how much have our citizens empoverished themselves due to the monopoly in the retail trade. 

Have you found any connection between the authorities and tycoons?

-Tycoons are satisfied with the authorities and are doing everything in their power to make this condition last as long posible, at least until the end of the privatization process. After this, they will insist upon the establishment of the regualtions, laws, protection of private property, i.e. they will insist on the establisment of the state which would protect their unlawfuly acquired wealth and privileges. We can not tell if this Columbian model is going to take roots in Europe, but our political parties are doing their best in that respect. The poverty, lack of education, apathy and the inherited fear from the authorities represent the ideal conditions for the insitution of such a model. 

Who are the ‘suspects’ and their affairs?

-People are important for the legal proceedings, but we are primarily concerned with the source of corruption, how to create conditions to curb corruption trough the establishment of institutions, the adoption of good laws and the institution of the rule of law, and raising the issue of the lack of criminal charges against major participants. 

How do you feel when you realize that not a single affair has been prosecuted?

-The corruption is a criminal act, and the fight against corruption understands prosecution, apprehending and seziure of proceeds of crime. One needs powerful, qualified and independent institutions. They are expected to be more powerful than tycoons, which they are not. Also, no conditions are created to back-up such institutions. The bigger problem represents the corruption which can not be reduced to this criminal/legal issue. I refer to trading in influence, political corruption, and the influence tycoon exercise on the authorities. The privatization process has been carried out althoug the property is not defined or protected, and there are no certainty in contract making or investments, whereas the privatization often looks like the organized crime. These mechanisms were perfected by the previous regime, because it encouraged the corruption and ruled with its help for so long, dodging the sanctions, financing wars, and virtual reality we all lived in. 

Have you discovered any additional "shady’"affairs?

-The distribution of frequences is a special issue the Council is going to deal with, as well as the chaos and illegality in this area which do not diminish. Is it posible to organize free elections? If the elections are not free, democratic instituions and the rule of law can not be established, and then it is the case of yet another vicious circle. 

Did you receive any threats considering the allegations you make?

-No.

Do you have difficulties with the Council’s financials, and who is reasponsable for that?

-The problems are less than before, but the money for the work of the Council tends to decrease each year. The Governemnt insists on publicly announcing the anticorruption funding as an unnecessary expenditure, and not as a worthwile investment.

The Government’s trade mark is "Guca" Music Festival

The Government favors the ‘Guca’ Festival, rather than the fight against corruption. In thier opinion the corrupt country and authorities shall become the trade mark if they finance such events and indulge citizens with the ‘national’ program. Isn’t it obvious that their agenda contains no serious educational and judiciary programes.

The story of "Mobtel" is not yet finished

The Company ‘’Mobtel’’ has been sold to the Norwegians. Is the story finished?

-No. We have to investigate how much did the state, i.e. citizens lose due to the illegal confiscation of frequences from ‘’Mobtel’’, which were done by the Government in order to settle a dispute with Mr. Bogoljub Karic. Why did it has to crash a profitable company whose co-owner it was, just because it failed to establish co-ownership relations in the real procentage.

Financing of political parties

Do you think the new Anti-Corruption Agency will follow your footsteps or act as a puppet in the hands of the Government?

-The Draft Law of the new body, suggested by the Ministry of Justice, does not aim to fight corruption, but to fulfil the formal requests made by the Council of Europe to establish an anti-corruption agency, and, conveniently for the Government, with the dismissal of the so far established anti-corruption instituitons. The financing of political parties represents one of the chief issues. It is no accident, that the Government took the jurisdiction over this issue from the last wording of the Draft Law on the new Anti-Corruption Institution. At present, the control of financing political parties is within the jurisdiction of the Parliament Financial Committee. In other words, political parties are in charge of their own financing! The constant obstruction to make the financing of political parites a little more transparent, speaks clearly enough how much polititians in Serbia are trying to conceal the sources of party financement, i.e. the interests which motivate the financing of parties.