IN THE QUICKSAND OF CORRUPTION
Macedonia:BRANKA NANEVSKA (AIM Skopje)
In 1999 Transparency International placed Macedonia on the 63rd position of its list citing an 3,3 index of corruption. The next year, it excluded it from the index altogether. This year (2001), Macedonia is nowhere to be found on the list, as can be discerned from a footnote in the report - due to the inaccessibility of necessary data and corresponding evaluations. Analysts claim that corruption has long since become an unavoidable part of local folklore and an understood companion of those ruling the country since it gained its independence. But, if the critical point in time in which corruption established itself is to be pointed out, it happens to coincide with the coming into power of the Coalition for Changes in 1998 or, to be precise, with the period immediately following the Kosovo crisis when the "good old boys" in power came to realize that servility towards the international community pays much less than illicit business deals struck in" Eldorado " called Kosovo. Thus it came to pass that the entire economy of the country became hostage of the black-market and the stampede of trailers engaged in smuggling goods in the north of Macedonia. In a jiffy, all but a small portion of the regulatory rules governing the economy were amended with provisions bestowing additional discretion rights to those, by rule, belonging to the ruling VMRO-DPMNE and their DPA (Democratic Party for Albanians) coalition partners. What followed, the well-informed claim, was to be expected. With the implicit blessings or, perhaps, even under direct orders of Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski, corrupt individuals placed high in the governmental nomenclature embarked on a practice of bribery and outright violations of the law on an unprecedented level. As a result, corruption assumed a seemingly legal facet to it, turning into a predominant form of communication between the government and all those involved in any kind of business. Instances of corruption, weather hilarious or tragic, are almost impossible to count ..An ample enough commission fee can buy you almost anything in Macedonia: from prosperous firms to MPs. Bank loans, export quotas and contingents, petrol, cigarette and pharmaceutical drugs import permits and licenses, catering contracts with the Interior and Defense Ministries, all on sale. A commission fee of ten percent is the most popular one, but this depends on the scale of the deal struck. In a word, in Macedonia, corruption bears the trademark of the market economy!
It is believed that every third Macedonian citizen of age has at some time or other had to resort to bribery in order to realize a right he is entitled to by law. A research of the phenomena was carried out at the start of 2001 by the International Center for the Study of Alternatives. Macedonians singled out customs officers, ministers and MPs as most corrupt. Next came Revenue Office officials, tax collectors that is to say, then judges, then other public officials. Policemen, doctors and party leaders maintained their ground pretty well, too. At the bottom of the list were bankers, professors and NGO representatives. Unemployment and low salaries were cited as the two major problems, while corruption was assigned third place by the pollees. Surprisingly, although the research was carried out in March when the war had already started, political instability was placed fourth, just ahead of crime, high prices and ethnic unrest.
Bribery, money laundering, arms and drugs trafficking, prostitution and similar violations of civic rights have become customary and are slowly progressing towards the next stage of the process - social indifference, sociologists warn. Hardly anyone anymore mentions scandals such as the infamous "Taiwan Commission" of US $ 40 million handed over to the leader of the Democratic Alternative Vasil Tupurkovski - given to him, as he himself publicly admitted without suffering any consequences for the deed at all, for establishing diplomatic relations with Taiwan. This holds true for all the lesser and higher fees of two, five, ten and more percent (in foreign currency millions, of course) handed out to Prime Minister Georgievski and his close associates for the sale of once profitable firms, reduced to failure and bankruptcy on purpose. And all of this done under the mask of privatization and the best possible choice of strategic foreign investors for state-owned property - without mention of public tenders, of course, all deals struck in private, of course. Thus, the sole gold mine in the country, Bucim, evaluated at DM 30 million was sold to Bulgarian Multigrup for mere DM 3, 5 million. The only refinery in the country, OKTA, was handed over to the Greeks practically for free and in a highly secretive manner. EL.P.ET Balkanika was obliged by contract to pay US $ 5 million in three years time on account of profits made from petrol and petroleum products in Macedonia and Kosovo and at the same time granted a five-year monopoly on the said markets. No one knows if these contractual provisions were ever met, but what is known (and confirmed even by US intelligence sources) is that between US $ 5 and 15 million of commission fees have found their way to the American-based accounts of the Prime Minister and some of his ministers! The lead and zinc melting plant in Veles was bought by Swiss Glenkor with a record discount of 99,97 percent! With a mere 13 percent of the shares worth DM 7 million, the Swiss have somehow managed to pay their way into the deal of the century with a mere DM 2 400 of advance !!! Consternated brokers now recount their attempts to get hold of the lucrative shares themselves only to find out that this was impossible - due to a force equaling an Act of God...The remaining shares needed for the control package of Glenkor were donated by Tupurkovski's party buddies and a private bank owned by him (Almako, which sent to the gutters DM 30 million of government money when it went bankrupt). The deposits in question came from the Public Housing Department, Telecom and the Ministry of Development and were transferred to the Almako account just days before the bank declared bankruptcy. Deliberately or not, yet no one has ever tried to establish what really happened at the time, let alone the possibility of anyone being called to account for their deeds before a court of law. The examples cited are but a tiny portion of the privatization process in effect in Macedonia, rightfully described as being scandalous.
At the end of last year, the underhand sales of state-owned property have been outlawed by order of the international financial gendarmes. A hat trick of the power-holders was thus in order. Sure enough, soon afterwards, the specific Macedonian brand of the corruption virus was enriched by a new strand: the sale of state-owned capacities with a price cut ranging from 50 to amazing 90 percent, all ending up in pockets of individuals connected with top figures of the ruling political parties... The trail was blazed by VMRO-DPMNE which seized an agricultural cooperative in the Tetovo region, a Skopje printing-house (Goce Delcev), textile works Illindenka and the agricultural complex Sandanski, going on to the Macedonian Central Bank, an insurance company of its own and a number of thriving stores, hotels and tourist industry enterprises. In the end, no one can tell how many firms the "holding company" VMRO-DPMNE is made up of. DPA followed closely in its footsteps. Both stuck to the same principle. When something is being bought for the party or a party member of the first order, the price is minimal. When what has been bought is resold to the strategic investor, it rises sky high. The profit, of course, goes to private pockets. All of this was realized through the Privatization Agency which has played a major role in the selling off of government capital, particularly during last year. The model most often used was the sale of the control package and the state residual with stock-exchange discount rates made known in advance. Nothing similar, experts say, is to be found anywhere else in the world!
The present security crisis is being used for sidestepping the Constitutional Court ruling prohibiting political parties to own economic capacities or profit from managing them. Thus, money illegally made is now being transferred to personal accounts of meritorious party comrades in a hurry, who then invest in private enterprises. The most recent instance of such a practice which has caused an uproar in the country is the case of the Macedonian Bank. The secretary general of VMRO-DPMNE , his chauffeur and their mutual friend (at present the managing director of the Macedonian Electric-Power Company and ex deputy of the Economics Minister) have bought 27 percent of the bank's shares worth DM 7 million for DM 1,5 million - paid at the stock-exchange counter in cash. Each bought slightly below 10 percent of shares so as to avoid applying for the consent of the governor of the central bank. All three, by the way, being government employees, have salaries ranging from DM 400 to DM 800!
Scandals as the one described abound. The country is in chaos, pounded with a over-production of corruption and financial affairs having to do with the transferring of government funds to private or party accounts. The sums in question, analysts claim, are at least ten times higher than those for which in China death penalty is inflicted. Not over here! Here a Defense Minister in the government of Prime Minister Georgievski, unruffled, in the midst of war, at a time when 50 thousand people are in exile, 21 thousand classified as living under the poverty-line, with 75 thousand families barely managing on welfare - deposits, some say 3 some DM 11 million of government money, onto the bank accounts of his father and brother-in-law. No big deal! The said gentleman did not even resign, leaving his post only when the regular procedure dictated it. The investigation presently under way was instituted under pressure from the media and the public.
The latest VMRO-DPMNE invention is the ever more frequent practice of presenting meritorious friends with public buildings and objects. Thus the Macedonian Orthodox Church became the owner of two hotels on the Lake Ohrid riviera, municipal party committees in Stip and Krusevo were presented with a new office space, the Prime Minister's wife and her brother with a farm cooperative in Delcevo and an army watchtower (!?) on the mountain of Golak, presently being refurbished into a family villa with much consideration. And so on.
According to police data, of the total number of crimes committed in the country last year, from 0,6 to 1,3 were corruption related. Or, more precisely, instances of corruption made up for 13 to 30 percent of the crime rate in the economy sector. The Interior Ministry has registered 190 cases of bribery, a ridiculous figure, even the experts of the Organized Crime Control Department will admit. The bulk of the reports filed with the police concerned policemen themselves and humanitarian workers dealing with refugees during the Kosovo crisis. The police claim they cannot deal efficiently with the problem because, due to constitutional and legal restrictions, this type of criminal activity is hard to prove! A renown criminologist and political analyst, Professor Grozdan Cvetkovski, says the police know perfectly well where the problem lies. Just as they know who manages the "green" mafia and the contraband of cigarettes made in the factory in Kumanovo, sold not only in neighboring Kosovo but in the entire region, a thriving business bringing the mobsters an annual profit of over DM 200 million, DM 45 000 per trailer truck to the middlemen and customs officers and DM 100 000 to police inspectors.
Macedonia has been singled out by the EU bureau on tobacco and cigarette smuggling and trafficking of women as a base and transit area of the international tobacco and cigarette smuggling network with a number of NATO, KFOR, UNMIK, OSCE and international aid organizations officials involved. According to international research, it is also the center of white slavery in the Balkans. Trafficking in humans is more lucrative than arms smuggling claim those involved, because arms are bought but once and pretty girls over and over! It is estimated that there are around 1 500 prostitutes in Macedonia catering to NATO troops, businessman and smaller fish in the pond, fetching a profit of DM 150 million for their bosses and endowing them with financial means for corrupting government officials, buying votes and even parliament benches! Money made on prostitution, as everyone knows, is the sole source of income for entire villages in western Macedonia, recently caught in the middle of fighting.
Macedonia is also being used as a base for money laundering. At the end of last year for instance, monetary authorities have discovered a rather large sum of Italian liras in the Tetovo branch of the Stopanska Bank. The inquest showed that the money came from an illegal trade chain of the Albanian and Italian white collar mafia. In April, media in Macedonia reviewed in great detail the laundering of 20 billion Kuwait dinars by a certain Cvetko Kabramov from Kavadarci. As it turned out, Cvetko had been in the business since 1995 when Social Democrats ruled the country and was a part of a money laundering operation involving Iraq, Kuwait, Albania and the Republic of Srpska, i.e. Sadam Husein, Osama bin Laden, Slobodan Milosevic and Milorad Dodik , the last two laundering money paid by Bosnian Muslims in territory-swamping deals struck during the war in B&H. All of the said illegal activities were carried out in cooperation with the international mafia - Albanian, Bulgarian, Russian and Serb, for the most part - and, of course, in collusion with the local authorities!
Macedonia also happens to be the only European country with a National Anti-Corruption Committee, yet it does not have a law against money laundering and regulations concerning corruption. It embarked on the task at the same time as the other countries in the region, in 1997, but has not completed it as of yet. Under pressure from the European Commission and the Council of Europe, the long ago drafted documents have now been pulled out of drawers they were tucked into. Processed by the government in a record time, they have finally reached the Parliament for adoption - but, as was recommended, only to become operative on March 1 of next year. When the preparatory period of 6 months granted to specialized services assigned with the implementation of the regulatory rules is calculated into the timetable, it turns out that the crackdown on corruption, money laundering and other forms of crime will not begin before the year of 2003! That is how long it will take for those at the top to cover their trails.