War – Bad for Ones, Good for Others

The current security situation in Macedonia is abundantly used by the soldiers of the parties in power for increasing their personal wealth. While members of security forces are killed at the front, the country is shaken by numerous scandals caused by war profiteers with a political background who are identified by the public with economic terrorists

AIM Skopje, June 21, 2001

This June Macedonia is shaken not only by the attacks of armed Albanians who are holding for four months already a part of its territory under control, but also by increasingly aggressive and unscrupulous attacks of the soldiers of the parties in power on the economy. Faced with the awareness that they will not remain in power for long and be able like in the past almost three years to do whatever they want, exceeding their predecessors, they are not attracted by the enchanting smell of lime-trees in blossom, nor are they worried by the smell of gunpowder coming from the war stricken areas. They are attracted only by the smell of money they yearn for and for the sake of which they are forgetting all the other human values such as morality, patriotism or responsibility, for example. Unfortunately, for a long time in this country responsibility has been just an abstract notion.

Macedonian state and economy are at the verge of an abyss, and war profiteers with political background are at full strength with "unbearable easiness" stifling their pockets, and the private accounts of power wielders from among the very top of the ruling hierarchy! The public identifies them with terrorists, because they are attacking economic facilities at this wicked time and in the manner which might some day, when the legal state (if it survives) starts operating, will be worthy of the Guiness book of records!

The latest in a series of financial scandals which have shaken the domestic public because they are destroying the economic foundations and significantly affecting the general stability of the state, is the case of the Macedonian Bank. More precisely, this refers to the dubious purchase of 27.15 per cent of the capital of this Bank which ranks fourth by strength in the country thanks to which the ruling VMRO-DPMNE, practically overnight, became the owner of 57.86 per cent of the shares and rounded off its financial empire which is more than half a billion mark worth.

The transaction was carried out, they claim legally, at the stock exchange by two most loyal associates of Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski: Lambe Arnaudov, Director of Macedonian Electric Company and former deputy minister of the economy Vojo Mihajlovski, secretary of VMRO-DPMNE and director of state health fund and his personal driver Marjanco Koneski, totally anonymous so far. None of them, it is generally known, are married and that is why they have been chosen to be the "guards" of party treasure. Koneski has bought 9.96 per cent of "Goce Delcev" printing works which according to their book value is worth three million marks at a large discount and paid "only" 500 thousand German marks for it.

On that same day and for the same amount of cash Director General of Macedonian Bank bought 8.48 per cent of its shares, and his loyal comrade Arnaudov became the owner of 8,71 per cent of "Ilindenka" factory which is owned by VMRO-DPMNE. Previously, in return, he had sold shares of ESM public enterprise which he is the head of to his "colleagues" and party fellow-combatants. All together, in a single day, for 1.5 million marks they bought shares worth at least seven million German marks. This was done with no call for tenders, no public competition, which is a legal obligation not at all met since Ljubco Georgievski and Arben Xhaferri came to power.

It is very interesting that all the competent authorities in the country disassociate themselves from the case of Macedonian Bank. They are shrugging their shoulders and trying to convince the disturbed public that nothing terrible has happened, that everything in the transaction was done pursuant to law and that there is no foundation for launching an investigation which is advocated by, who else but the scapegoats - journalists. The National Bank of Macedonia has officially stated that according to the recently amended law it is not obliged to approve ownership transformation of the banking capital that does not exceed 10 per cent. The listed three changes (what a coincidence!) amount to less than this legal minimum! The limit was increased from three to 10 per cent in the beginning of this year at the proposal of the experts of the World Bank. The fact that after this episode the world bankers were the first to react and demanded that the previous limit be restored is known to very few, least of all to those who are in charge, but do not dare react! However, the transactions, analysts claim, were carried out contrary to the decision of the Constitutional Court which forbade the parties to possess profit-making enterprises. The biggest ruling party, VMRO-DPMNE, simply does not respect this decision of the Court, or, more precisely, it is attempting to outmanoeuvre it in order to protect its enviable wealth. Therefore, it is hastily transferring the illegally acquired party capital to the names of prominent individuals, loyal subjects, mostly members of the very top of the party leadership. By order of power wielders the courts is ratifying the carried out ownership transactions without having previously, in the line of duty, carried out the decisions of the Constitutional Court! Analysts and connoisseurs of Macedonian economy are convinced that the big financial scandal of Macedonian Bank is in fact part of the operation of saving the property taken away from the people.

The scandal of the Macedonian Bank is a typical example of organised crime according to the assessment of economic and legal analysts who are wondering why the relevant state institutions are not reacting although it is their job to protect legality, control transactions and operation of brokers. They are the Public Prosecutor's Office, the Governor of the National Bank, Revenue Administration and the Commission for Securities... It is hard to believe that the buyers of the part of the capital of Macedonian bank, such as civil servants with the official salary of 400 German marks, can legally have that much money to pay the shares. Journalists of Skopje A1 television station calculated that every one of them would have needed to work 104 years in order to earn 500 thousand marks each one of them gave, without spending anything!!! According to the opinion of lawyers this is a classical case of destructive fishing in troubled waters when in the extremely critical political situation individuals with the "top" political background care only about their personal profit and that is why it should end up in court.

This example is, unfortunately, just the last in a series of similar ones that occurred since Macedonia is neither in the state of war nor in the state of peace.

State capital is rapidly sold out in this country at discount rate of 50 even up to 99 per cent. The Agency for privatisation is selling it, and members of the leadership or deserving friends of the biggest parties in power - VMRO-DPMNE and PDPA-NDP - are buying it. They are trying to do what they have not managed to do in the past two years. They are buying literally everything that is worth anything. Brokers who have found the courage to do so are warning that they are applying all known legal and illegal methods of sale, from inside information to direct pressure on the employees, distribution of imported shipments and concessions, attractive business premises etc. They pay immediately and in cash. They stress that the worst of all is that they are even using the money from the state cashbox for that. The accusations such as this that are severely punished everywhere else in the world cannot even be proved in Macedonia, because there is no financial police here, nor any anti-corruption laws.

They were drafted a long time ago, passed through the first phase of the parliament procedure and then got stuck in some minister's drawer! That is why only party bosses know how big a portion of the money from the received commission for scandalous stock exchange transactions during panicky privatisation went to government officials or was paid on their private accounts. And the government coalition has managed to privatise 180 enterprises worth 500 million marks, banking sources claim.

There are numerous other examples of “selling out” of social capital. A few days ago the Government of Ljubco Georgievski gave as a gift two hotels on the riviera of Ohrid lake to Macedonian Orthodox Church to use them permanently as well as three whole buildings to municipal committees of its party in Struga, Kicevo and Krusevo. There is almost no municipality in the country in which the “soldiers” of the party in power are not engaged in lowering the value of an attractive economic facility that happens to be in a crisis because of debts, large stock or lost market, which is then bought for next to nothing. The procedure is standardised and it never fails. The Dutch auditing and consulting firm Arthur Andersen also reacted, being engaged by IMF to help it in the search for a strategic partner for the former economic giant and by now the greatest loser of Macedonian economy, the Jugohrom Chemical Power Combine in Jegunovce near Tetovo.

Nobody knows exactly how big the profit is that the ruling oligarchy is making; there are only guesses. It is assumed that the profit of VMRO-DPMNE alone is equal to the foreign debt of Montenegro which at this moment amounts to almost 190 million dollars. The biggest profit is made not by party enterprises but by illegal business deals, economic racketeering, bribery and smuggling of various goods. What is known with certainty is that VMRO-DPMNE possesses the capital of almost 100 million marks worth of securities bought at Macedonian stock exchange, which are actually worth much more, because they were purchased at a large discount rate. Legally, in a year in which there are no elections, the party can legally collect hardly about 27 million denars from subscription and donations a year (33 den=1 DM).

Let us not forget that all this is happening at the moment when Macedonia is in a serious security crisis the outcome of which is quite uncertain. The country is on the verge of an economic abyss. The number of the unemployed is rapidly growing. According to the data of the state Employment Office, there is 371 thousand or 53.4 per cent of the working population without any source of income simply forced to seek support from the state. This aid of 100 German marks a month is already received by 71 thousand families of four on the average. At the same time the number of those who have any job is drastically reduced. Social tensions are enormous, there are strikes every day. The power wielders, occupied by themselves and the smell of money, do not pay any attention to them. The leaders-dealers, as Professor Venko Andonovski, known Macedonian intellectual and writer, calls them have more urgent matters to attend to. The parliament is not operating.

Minister of the economy Nikola Gruevski is appealing on the elected representatives of the people to come to their senses and begin doing their job they are well paid for, to pass the necessary laws that economic reforms and the aid of world financial institutions depend on. The law on money laundry is among others in the package which is the condition of the IMF for allocating tranches of the already accommodated loans. The government has prepared it but its implementation is announced for March next year. It needs the time until then to hide the traces of misdeeds that brought it enormous profit. All this seems to confirm the old wise saying that the war is “bad for ones – but good for others”.

BRANKA NANEVSKA

(AIM)