Kutle Freed

AIM Zagreb, May 22, 2001

It was late afternoon when on Friday, May 18, an unusually large crowd of journalists and photographers gathered in front of the Zagreb District Prison in Remetinec with the members the Kutle family, avoiding curious eyes, standing somewhat to the side. When the most hated Croatian tycoon, thanks to whom tens of thousands of Croatian citizens lost their jobs, appeared at the prison gates, there were many tears of joy and cheerful embraces. The photographers dutifully registered Kutle's release after the 15 months he spent behind bars and the journalists attempted in vain to get a statement from the best known prisoner in Croatia.

It was a scene to be remembered, and a scene that has sent a clear message to Croatian citizens two days ahead of local elections: the notorious "terminator" from Siroki Brijeg will be tried on charges of embezzling tens of millions of kuna in the Tisak company as a free man. True, no one in this country can find an acceptable justification for the 15 months Kutle spent in pre-trial detention: it is almost insane to keep someone in prison that long without a conviction, not to mention the fact that investigators couldn't find a single shred of relevant evidence against him throughout the period. And not only were they unable to produce evidence, they didn't go out of their way to do so. But, let's go back to the beginning, 15 months ago...

Tudjman's favorite tycoon Miroslav Kutle was arrested on Feb. 3, 2000, on suspicion of having syphoned out of the Croatian newspaper distribution giant Tisak about 48 million kuna (close to DM12 million), which he subsequently sent in an unknown direction. His technique was simple: whenever Kutle needed additional funds for the over one hundred companies he owned, he used Tisak as his treasury. The company's two thousands kiosks across the country yielded daily DM1.5 million and were therefore an ideal target for Kutle whenever he needed cash to bail out any unit of his business empire, which had started crumbling simultaneously with the Tudjman regime. Tisak, thus, served to Kutle as an inexhaustible source of cash and a front for loans which ended up in one of Kutle's many indebted outlets. And there were many -- Split-based Dalma, Koteks, Prerada, Kastelanska Rivijera, Jadrantekstil, Zagreb-based Gradski Podrum, Rovinj-based Mirna...

And because the Racan government didn't find it necessary to prosecute him, the Miroslav Kulte case was transformed from a symbol of plunder into a symbol of Croatia's grotesque judiciary, although there were plenty of reasons for prosecuting him. Namely, the government for some reason stuck to what it was cunningly offered by the Croatian Democratic Union which involved charges of financial fraud in the Tisak company. The charges were written long before the change of government on Jan. 3, 2000, and it never even occurred to the new government to deal with Kutle's plundering rampage at the Slobodna Dalmacija company and all others which went bankrupt as soon as the Siroki Brijeg tycoon set foot in them. Thus we are witnessing an absurd situation wherein Kutle is being prosecuted for "a parking ticket," whereas his "mass murders," albeit easy to prove, are completely overlooked.

Instead of focusing all its prosecuting potential on investigating and proving Kutle's more than obvious criminal activities, the Racan judiciary has let itself be overwhelmed by a case planted by the former regime, and once they realized that, they apparently resorted to illegal means to keep the tycoon in prison. Namely, the latest issue of the Zagreb Nacional weekly reports that Miroslav Kutle was released only because Justice Minister Stjepan Ivanisevic was ill that day and could not phone the president of the Zagreb Municipal Court, Djuro Sessa, and order him to find any excuse to further extend Kutle's detention. According to the daily, Ivanisevic did exactly that twice so far. On both occasions, a special chamber acting on Ivanisevic's orders had ruled to keep Kutle in prison. The fact that Kutle's freedom or imprisonment depended on the justice minister's health reveals more clearly than any other the ruling coalition's powerlessness in making good on the promises it made after winning in January, 2000. For a year and a half the government has been incapable of organizing a public prosecution capable of producing sufficient evidence to put Kutle behind bars without problematical political pressure. The impotence and incompetence of the current authorities are reflected also in the fact that for a year and a half they have failed to create a sufficiently courageous judiciary, capable of making decisions not depending on either the justice minister or any other government official.

This inexplicable powerlessness coupled with an incredible degree of incompetence has resulted in Kutle's release, and the release is a sure sign that none of the Croatian Democratic Union's tycoons or criminals will be prosecuted for years of plunder, financial scams and fraud that have left so many Croatian workers on welfare. This is to say that if police and the prosecution cannot prove what thousands of people have personally experienced -- that is, that Kutle is undoubtedly the biggest local plunderer of companies and banks – all other trials of domestic criminals and "reform wizards," whose sins, compared to Kutle's, are negligible, are pointless. Equally pointless as the efforts of the Racan government to settle its accounts with Tudjmanism and all the other dirt the country has inherited from the former regime.

Ivica Djikic

(AIM)