DEPARTURE OF TUDJMAN'S ASSOCIATES
AIM Zagreb, 6 May, 1998
Franjo Tudjman is becoming more and more lonely in his Presidential Palace. Three of his closest associates left him in less than fifteen days. Each of then had a good reason to consider himself to be the president's right hand. It was claimed in public that each of them was "the second person in the state" and in a certain way this was true.
Miroslav Tudjman, President's son, resigned first from the post of the chief of all the secret services, supposedly, because he felt tired and wished to return to teaching, as he declared. The second to resign was Hrvoje Sarinic, first among Tudjman's administrators. In a state in which all the decisions, starting from the relations with the European Union to the makeup of football teams, are made in one single place, i.e. in the office of the head of state, his first employee became a very powerful person, a gray eminence. Soon afterwards, Gojko Susak, Minister of Defence died of a severe disease. He was much more than Tudjman's "most beloved minister". Although he showed extreme loyalty towards the head of the state, the relations between them were almost those of partners. By controlling the army and his influence in Herzegovina, Susak reserved for himself a position respected by Tudjman.
One could say that the core of Croatian power is falling apart. This impression is even stronger if one analyses the inheritance of the one who inevitably passed away and the reasons of those who chose to go away. There existed a strong agreement and connection between Tudjman, the former partisan general and Susak who was proud of his Ustashe origin and even used to salute in public with his arm recognisably highly raised. They were both extreme nationalists, having almost the same vision of Croatia, they wanted it to be as big as possible and as ethnically cleansed as possible. Tudjman declared that he was happy for his wife was neither Jewish nor Serbian, on the eve of the war Susak with a few followers, went around shooting in Borovo Selo inhabited by Serbs, so he can be considered as one of direct war beginners.
The attitude towards Bosnia and Herzegovina was also the point of their deep ties. The Croatian president always cherished aspirations towards this region but without Susak they would have remained mere wishes. The Croatian Minister acted in Herzegovina as Tudjman's most important operating officer, he was called governor of Herzegovina. In fact, a strategy consonance existed between them. Upon his return from emigration, while introducing himself in the Croatian parliament, Susak mentioned in his biography that his birth place was "Siroki Brijeg, Croatia". Just as Tudjman has obsessively day-dreaming about "fattening Croatian crescent" (on a map that is what Croatia reminds of), Susak was stretching Croatian borders in order to squeeze in his birth place inside them.
The Croatian president and his minister were also probably connected by the fact that only the two of them were authorised to dispose of enormous donations which arrived from Croatian emigrants to Croatia especially when the war had started. No accounts were ever rendered to anyone concerning the amount of this money or how it was spent. Susak was very clever in supplying the army with weapons, but it could be noticed that some bullet suppliers often earned mysterious fortunes. In the American Congress it could just be heard that Tudjman family owns a fortune worth "a few billion dollars".
Ministry of Defence became the richest in Croatia, moreover, it operated as a sseparate state within the state. Huge funds were set aside for the army during the war and later on. Assured that it was the winner in the war and a regional power, the numerous army with its privileged officers, connected to various forms of illegal and even criminal behaviour, became a power outside and above the law and the society. Crimes committed during the war were not punished, seizure of apartments, smuggling of cars, smugglers' chains, mistreatment of civilians were tolerated. Independent analysts assure that the army became a mechanism for producing a caste of false state guards, and on the occasion of Susak's commemoration, Tudjman declared that the Croatian army is "the holy institution of the Croatian people".
It would be very difficult for the Croatian president to find an adequate successor of Susak. He left him a powerful army, but in such a state that it requires very delicate treatment. It is difficult to see a person who would be capable of keeping it under control. This is true especially because reorganisation of the army is inevitable including decrease of manpower, cutting down expenditures, subjecting it to parliamentary control, adapting to western standards not only in view of military training but also according to the role the army should have in a democratic state. It will be even more difficult for him to find a person who would play the role of Susak among Croats in Herzegovina, especially since it has become more evident than ever that the plan on annexation of Herzegovina to Croatia will not be achieved.
Although Miroslav Tudjman, former professor of information science at the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb, who was a Social Democrat at the time of the first multi-party elections and joined his father during the war, declared that fatigue was the only reason for his resigning, his sudden departure from the post of the head intelligence officer is linked to the complicated affair in Dubrovnik Bank. Tudjman's long-term confident associate Sarinic put his resignation on his table because of this huge financial and political scandal which shook up not only Croatian banking but Croatian administration in general. Up to now he showed no political ambitions, he was almost without political convictions, he always presented himself as Tudjman's follower. During the war he negotiated several times in Knin and Belgrade under utmost secrecy.
The scandal in the Dubrovnik Bank showed the manner how Tudjman's capitalism functions, in which 200 business families were supposed to lead the country's economic development. This formula became the model for redistribution of national wealth, literally for the big robbery in which powerful politicians were united with tycoons closely related to the authorities and secret police officers. Related to this scandal, such a big quantity of dirty laundry appeared in public that even Tudjman's authorities although skilled in ignoring their own filthy deeds, could not push it under the carpet. Existence of secret partnership contracts was discovered, which enabled HDZ members to take over companies and banks; it was revealed that mobsters broke into public notary offices and stole discrediting documents; media informed about a series of corruption credits...
The Dubrovnik bank scandal has additionally dramatised and intensified the existing divisions inside HDZ. It was discovered that state officials all the way up to the Presidential Palace were involved in all these dishonest and criminal deeds. This fact has extremely strained the existing conflict between Tudjman's associates on one side, and Ivic Pasalic on the other side, president's counsellor who kept the HDZ party structures under control. A few times Sarinic publicly advocated total clearing up of the Dubrovnik scandal. Miroslav Kutle, tycoon related to Pasalic, who was the main user of Dubrovnik Bank credits and the main cause of its bankruptcy, responded. He accused the chief of Tudjman's office that he had begun acting as the future presidential candidate, and hinted at Sarinic's French connections and alleged taking commissions.
Although Tudjman announced that all the participants in Dubrovnik scandal would be punished, up to now only those of minor importance are being arrested and it seems that this will be the end of it. Amnesty for big thieves was assumed to have been the fact that exceeded all the limits for Miroslav Tudjman and Hrvoje Sarinic. Presumably, these two had proposed to the President to choose between them and Pasalic. Contrary to Tudjman's son, who withdrew, Sarinic tried by his resignation to exert pressure on the chief of the state, considering that it would not be easy for him to hush up such an openly thrown down gauntlet. He tried to force him to come out with his stand, estimating probably that the scandal once it had become public could not be hushed up any more, at least not without causing more severe consequences.
Croatian president up to now floated on the balance between the opposed factions in his party. Their conflict produced his role of the arbitrator, his separated position grew due to their rivalry. Now, Tudjman was put into a position in which he must take his pick. Even if he tries again to evade, if he does not take his pick, the choice will be evident. It should be said that the conflict in which sides should be taken is not only a clinch between honesty and political immorality. In fact, it is first of all a conflict between those who understand that a clear turn must be made in order to save power, and those who think that there is no reason for changes since power they possess can perpetuate on its own. This is in fact a conflict between those who consider that participants in the Dubrovnik Bank scandal, the biggest so far, should be seriously punished in order to avoid being run over by political and social stampede of discontent, and those who consider that they have at their disposal such mighty instruments of power that nothing can happen to them. Tudjman seems lost in a Potemkin village which is falling apart. Stage sets and props are falling down, instant-miracles are recognised as illusions, and the war at court is shaking up the whole country.
JELENA LOVRIC