Trag nestalog Miloševićevog novca vodi do Hrvatske?
CroRadio.net
Ciparski predsjednik ,,prao" novac iz Srbije
Trag nestalog Miloševićevog novca vodi do Hrvatske?
Prošlog tjedna na Cipru su nastavljena saslušanja u sudskom postupku
za klevetu protiv ,,Financial Timesa" zbog objave tekstova
o ,,nestalim"
Miloševićevim milijunima, odnosno, novcu kojega je preko ciparskih
banaka u inozemstvo prebacio bivši srbijanski predsjednik i neosuđeni
ratni zločinac Slobodan Milošević. O slučaju pokradenog novca, osim
srbijanskog MUP-a istragu vode neke međunarodne agencije, a prema
našem izvoru iz MUP-a Hrvatske, uskoro bi se mogli uključiti i
hrvatski istražitelji zbog ozbiljnih sumnja kako je dio ,,nestalih
Miloševićevih mlijuna" ,,opran" u financijskim, investicijskim
operacijama u Hrvatskoj.
Prošlog je tjedna na ciparskom sudu svjedočio bivši bliski suradnik
ciparskog predsjednika Tassosa Papadopoulosa, kojega je ,,Financial
Times" identificirao kao jednog od glavnih pomagača Slobodana
Miloševića u prebacivanju opljačkanog novca sa srbijanskih računa u
inozemstvo. Pambos Ioannides svjedočio je kako nije imao veze sa bilo
kojim državljaninom Jugoslavije tijekom embarga UN-a, 90-ih godina.
Ipak, priznao je kako je bio osobni prijatelj sa ženom koja je bila
poznata kao osobni bankar Slobodana Miloševića.
Novac preko Beogradske banke na Cipar
Bilo je to četvrto sudsko saslušanje od podnošenja tužbe 2002. godine
koju je protiv ,,Financial Timesa" podnio cipaski predsjednik Tassos
Papadopoulos, za kojega su te novine 2002. objavile podatke kako je
obavljao određene poslove i bio povezan sa Miloševićem, te mu je
omogućio iznošenje milijunskih iznosa na strane račune, i kasnije
navodno ,,pranje" toga novca.
Na ovom saslušanju Ioannidesa, sada glavnog partnera u odvjetničkoj
firmi Papadopoulosa, ispitivao je odvjetnik ,,Financial Timesa" Pavlos
Angelides.
U svojim ranijim iskazima Ioannides izjavio je kako se ne sjeća Zorana
Markovića, izvršnog direktora Beogradske banke, banke u državnom
vlasništvu u Srbiji. Međutim, istovremeno je potvrdio vjerodostojnost
dokumenta koji dokazuje kako je u siječnju 1995. potpisao nalog
,,Popular Bank" da isplati Markoviću iznos od 7 milijuna njemačkih
maraka u gotovini. UN-ovi istražielji ratnih zločina, već su
identificirali Markovića kao čovjeka koji je bio ,,nosač novca" , koji
je prenosio kofere une zapadnih valuta u gotovini na ciparske bankovne
račune. Usprkos tim činjenicama Ioannides je u na zadnjem saslušanju
pred ciparskim sudom tvrdio kako nikada nije osobno upoznao Markovića.
Dokazi su, međutim, pokazali suprotno. Naime, prema dokazima,
Ioannides i Marković susreli su se u Beogradu na sprovodu supruga
Borke Vučić, nekadašnje predsjednice Uprave Beogradske banke COBU,
inače off shore banke kćeri istoimene banke u Srbiji i bliske sradnice
bivšeg srbijanskog predsjednika Slobodana Miloševića. Pod pritiskom
dokaza, Ioannides je priznao svoje prijateljstvo sa Vučićkom ,,kroz
njihove zajedničke poslove".
Mreža off shore kompanija kako bi se prikrio trag novca
,,Ali niste znali Zorana Markovića, iako je on bio visokopozicionirani
član Uprave Beogradske banke? Očekujete da vam to povjerujemo?", pitao
je Ioannidesa odvjetnik ,,Financial Timesa".
,,Poznavao sam puno ljudi, imam dosta poslovnih veza, ali se ne sjećam
ovog čovjeka", odgovorio je Ioannides.
Potom je glavni odvjetnik ,,Financial Timesa" krenuo na ispitivanje
svjedoka o poduzeću ,,Antexol Trade Ltd", off shore kompaniji koju je
za inancijske operacije Miloševićeva režima registrirao Tassos
Papadopoulos.
Antexol je jedna od šest off shore kompanija koje je u svojem izvješću
naveo Morten Torkildsen, osebni tužitelj Međunarodnog kaznenog suda,
istražujući zločine protiv ljudskih prava u bivšoj Jugoslaviji 90-ih
godina.
Noac iz Srbije završavao preko off shore kompanija i investicijskih
fondova u Hrvatskoj
Obzirom da se radi o off shore kompaniji njezin stvarni osnivači i
vlasnici ne mogu biti državljani Cipra. Odvjetnička kuća Tassosa
Papadopoulosa obavljala je prokuratorske poslove za to poduzeće, a
jedan od takvih ovlaštenika bio je i Ioannides. Tijekom unakrsnog
ispitivanja od strane odvjetnika Angelidesa Ioannides je izajvio kako
ni sam nije bio svjestan stvarne prirode poslova kojima se bavila off
shore kompanija Antexol.
Pred sudom su izneseni dokazi kako je Antexol bio osnovan u ime
Ljiljane Radenković, koja je u to vrijeme radila u Londonu u Anglo-
Jugoslavenskoj banci. Ta je osoba, s druge strane tvrdila kako nema
niti je imala ikakve veze sa tom off shore kompanijom. Ipak ostaje
vrlo zanimljivom činjenica, da je upravo sa off shore kompanija na
Cipru Miloševićev novac odlazi u investicijske fondove u Londonu, a
tijek novca i investiranje toga ,,prljavog" novca pratila je upravo
Anglo - Jugoslavenska banka. Iz tih su fondova kasnije financirane i
određene financijske i investicijske operacije u Hrvatskoj, poput
recimo investicija Gorana Štroka, čije kreditno pokriće za njegove
investicije u hotele po Hrvatskoj dolai upravo iz investicijskih
fondova koji upravljaju pokradenim novcem kojega je
Milošević ,,sakrio"
u inozemstvo.
Veza sa turskim bankama
Na ciparskom sudskom procesu pojaili su se i dokazi o ransferu novca
sa računa ciparskih off shore kompanija na bankovne račune u Turskoj,
a zatim je novac vrlo vjerojatno završavao u Velikoj Britaniji u
raznim investicijskim fondovima s kojih je investiran u financijske
operacije u cijelom svijetu, pa i u Hrvatskoj.
Antexol je brisan iz registra poduzeća u kolovozu 2003., tek nekoliko
mjeseci prije početka suđenja u studenom iste godine. Odvjetnik
,,Financial Timesa" pitao je Ioannidesa je li dobio valjani nalog
vlasnika kompanije da se ista zatvori i briše iz registra?
Ioannides je rekao kako nikada nije imao takav dokment, ali kako bi to
trebalo pitati Središnju banku na Cipru. ,,Provjeravali smo u
Središnjo
banci i nismo pronašli ništa. Znate li zašto? Zato što oni skrivaju
Vaše tragove", napao je Ioannidesa odvjetnik Angelides.
Potom je Anelides predstavio sudu nekoliko kreditnih naloga iz 1997.
godine, koje su izdale off shore kompanije koje je registrirao
odvjtnički ured Tassosa Papadopoulosa.
Dokumenti su, zapravo, bili nalozi za transfer različitih iznosa noca
(u dolarima i njemačkim markama) na račune turskih banaka u Istambulu.
Transferi su obavljani preko banke u Njemačkoj. Neki od naloga su
potpisani od strane Marios Eliades, tadašnjeg partnera u odvjetničkom
poduzeću Papadopoulosa.
,,Zašto ste vršili plaćanja prema turskim bankama? Jeste li se
potrudili provjeriti gdje novac ide?", pitao je odvjetnik ,,Financial
Timesa".
Ioannides je odgovorio kako nije bila njihova obveza provjeravati
takve stvari, nego su samo postupali po nalogu njihova klijenta.
Zaključio je kako tada različite transakcije prema turskim bankama
nisu bile ništa neuobčajeno.
Nakon Miloševićeve smrti, ostala je nerazriješena tajna o čak 800
milijuna američkih dolara koj je srbijanski vođa uspio sakriti u
inozemstvu. Veliki dio toga novca ,,opran" je upravo preko više od 250
ciparskih bankovnih računa i osam off shore kompanija, koje je između
ostalih za Miloševića registrirao i vodio današnji ciparski
predsjednik Tassos Papadopoulos. Mreža financijskih veza Miloševićevih
milijuna tako vodi i do investicija u Hrvatskoj, od kojih je za sada,
pod međunarodnom istragom jedino Goran Štrok za kojega su međunarodni
istražitelji dokazali veze sa investicijskim fondovima koji upravljaju
Miloševićevim novcem.
Istraga nestalim Miloševićevim milijunima, tako se, seli u Hrvatsku,
gdje bi uskoro mogla započeti i službena istraga protiv osumnjičenih
za sudjelovanje u međunarodnoj mreži za pranje Miloševićevih milijuna.
Domagoj Margetić
CroRadio.net
Tassos Nikolaou Papadopoulos (Greek: ;) born January
7, 1934) has been the president of Cyprus since 2003.
He was born in Lefkosia, Cyprus and studied law in London (Gray's Inn,
Barrister-at-Law).
In the late fifties, Papadopoulos was active in PEKA, the political
section of EOKA. After independence, he became minister for
employment.
He took part in the London Conference in 1959 and was one of the two
delegates (besides the AKEL delegates) who voted against the signing
of the London and Zurich Agreements. He was also one of the four
representatives of the Greek Cypriot side at the Constitutional
Commission which drafted the Constitution of the Republic of Cyprus.
For 12 years he served successively as Minister of the Interior,
Minister of Finance, Minister of Labour and Social Insurance, Minister
of Health and Minister of Agriculture and Natural Resources.
He served as advisor to the first representative of the Greek Cypriot
side in the intercommunal talks, Mr. Glafkos Clerides, until April
1976 and subsequently he took up that post himself, serving until July
1978.
He represented Cyprus at many international conferences, particularly
the annual congresses of the International Labour Organisation (ILO).
Furthermore he represented Cyprus at the United Nations and the
Council of Europe. Until his election he practiced law in Lefkosia.
At the Parliamentary elections held on 15 July 1970 he was elected
member of the House of Representatives, standing as an Eniaion
(Unified Party) candidate for the Nicosia constituency. Standing as an
independent candidate, he was re-elected in the election of 5
September 1976. From April until October 1976 he served as President
of the House of Representatives. In the 19 May 1991 parliamentary
elections he was elected member of the House of Representatives,
standing as a candidate for the Democratic Party in the Nicosia
constituency. He was re-elected on 26 May 1996.
On 7 October 2000, he was elected unopposed President of the
Democratic Party during the historic electoral congress at which the
founder of the Party, Spyros Kyprianou, stood down. At the 27 May 2001
elections he was re-elected at the head of the Democratic Party
( . .) ticket.
He was a member of the National Council, Chairman of the Standing
Parliamentary Committee on European Affairs and member of the
Committee on Selection and the Committee on Financial and Budgetary
Affairs. He was also Co-chairman of the Joint Cyprus-EU Parliamentary
Committee.
He campaigned for the 2003 presidential election on a platform that he
would be able to secure better deal over the Cyprus dispute than the
incumbent Glafkos Clerides. He was backed by not just his own party,
Democratic Party, but also the socialist AKEL and social democrat
KISOS.
Tassos Papadopoulos (right), U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Anan and
Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash (left)
Tassos Papadopoulos (right), U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Anan and
Turkish Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash (left)
Mr. Papadopoulos assumed the Presidency on 28 February 2003.
Before the Cyprus reunification referendum, 2004 on the Annan plan, he
urged Greek Cypriots to vote No, declaring "I received a state; I will
not deliver a community". His recommendation is considered one of the
reasons for the referendum's negative result on the Greek-Cypriot
side.
He is married to Fotini Michaelides (daughter of Anastasios Leventis)
and they have four children: Constantinos, Maria, Nicholas and
Anastasia.(Constantinos and Maria are the children of the murdered
minister of interior Polykarpos Georkadjis married at the time to
Fotini Michaelides)
CroRadio.net
Financial Times
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=============
Defiant Cyprus bank that helped fund two wars
By Kerin Hope in Athens and Stefan Wagstyl in London
Published: July 25 2002 5:00 | Last Updated: July 25 2002 5:00
The gleaming steel-and-glass headquarters of Popular (Laiki) Bank of
Cyprus makes a striking contrast with the discreet office blocks
occupied by most Greek Cypriot companies. But even more suggestive of
the group's ambitions is a metal sculpture in the courtyard pointing
aggressively towards the sky.
When the international community shunned Yugoslavia as a pariah state
for much of the 1990s, Cyprus seized its chance to do business with
Belgrade, and Popular Bank became former Yugoslav President Slobodan
Milosevic's main financial link with the outside world.
According to a report by Morten Torkildsen, an investigator at the
United Nations war crimes prosecutor's office, Popular Bank, the
island's second largest bank, allowed a group of Yugoslav-controlled
front companies to operate in defiance of UN sanctions.
These companies supplied Mr Milosevic's government with fuel, raw
materials, spare parts and weapons to pursue wars in Bosnia in
1992-1996 and in Kosovo in 1998-1999.
Mladjan Dinkic, the Yugoslav central bank governor, said during a
visit to Cyprus last year that as much as $4bn ( 3.9bn, 2.5bn) in
foreign currency might have been transferred to Cyprus between 1992
and 1994. The funds were mainly deposited in Popular Bank and its
Greek subsidiary, European Popular Bank, he said.
A Financial Times investigation has revealed that instead of taking
measures against Yugoslav sanctions-busting, leading members of
Cyprus's close-knit elite facilitated the transactions. They included
Afxentios Afxentiou, governor of the central bank; Kikis Lazarides,
chairman of Popular Bank; and Tassos Papadopoulos, a prominent lawyer
and leader since 2000 of the Democratic party, the island's second-
biggest political party.
The scale of the island's involvement with Belgrade has revived
concerns about Cyprus's commitment to implementing international anti-
money-laundering practices at a time when the island's bid to join the
European Union in 2004 is under negotiation.
Yet the Greek Cypriot bankers and politicians who were involved sound
embarrassed rather than repentant. Mr Lazarides told the FT: "We did
nothing illegal. After all, banks are in the business of making
money."
Cyprus's willingness to help Mr Milosevic get around UN sanctions
stems from a long tradition of close ties between Cyprus and
Yugoslavia. Greek Cypriots overwhelmingly backed Mr Milosevic during
the Yugoslav succession wars.
Cyprus's business links with Yugoslavia were well established before
the federation collapsed. After 1989 Serbian businessmen opened
offshore trading companies and took advantage of the island's
favourable tax treaties with former communist states. But after UN
sanctions were imposed in July 1992, the number of Yugoslav-controlled
offshore companies on Cyprus soared from fewer than 1,000 to more than
7,000.
Officials at the Cyprus central bank registered Yugoslav front
companies as offshore trading businesses. They were financed with cash
flown from Belgrade to Cyprus and deposited in special accounts,
mainly at Popular Bank. The accounts were managed by officials at the
Nicosia-based offshore branch of Beogradska Banka, a state-owned bank
run by Borka Vukic, one of Mr Milosevic's closest associates.
Cyprus initially had few measures in place to counter money-
laundering. But the relationship with Mr Milosevic continued after an
anti-money laundering law was approved in 1996. And cash continued to
be transferred after Cyprus started EU accession talks in 1998.
Mr Torkildsen's report details many transfers made after the UN re-
imposed an arms embargo on Belgrade in March 1998 because of the
worsening conflict in Kosovo.
Dragomir Stojkovic, a courier with the National Bank of Yugoslavia,
flew to Cyprus on a private aircraft almost every week between March
1998 and March 1999. The cash he accompanied was stuffed into
reinforced paper sacks used for packaging cement and handed over to
Popular Bank officials at Larnaca airport.
Mr Stojkovic declared a total of DM453m to customs officials at
Larnaca airport, filling out the forms required under banking
regulations on cash imports. The entire amount was deposited in a D-
Mark account at Popular Bank belonging to Browncourt Enterprises, one
of the Cyprus-based front companies.
The central bank gave special approval for the money brought by Mr
Stojkovic to enter Cyprus, because the amounts exceeded the $100,000
ceiling then permitted for a single cash transfer. Browncourt
Enterprises and another seven front companies were registered as
Cyprus-based offshore companies by the law office headed by Mr
Papadopoulos, legal adviser both to Popular Bank and Beogradska Banka.
Mr Afxentiou retired earlier this year and was not available for an
interview. But Andreas Philippou, the long-serving head of supervision
at the central bank, said in an FT interview that senior officials at
the bank were aware the front companies were set up as a means of
avoiding UN sanctions.
He said: "Through these companies, the Yugoslav state was able to
survive and feed its people in spite of the sanctions."
Popular Bank played an important role in a drive by the Cyprus
government to reduce dependence on tourism, its main source of
revenue, by boosting the offshore banking industry. The bank, which is
listed on the small Nicosia stock exchange, also expanded outside
Cyprus, to Greece and London. Its biggest single shareholder is HSBC,
the UK-based financial group, with a 22 per cent stake.
In an interview with the FT in his marble and wood-panelled office, Mr
Lazarides said: "We always acted in accordance with central bank
regulations. Because the amounts of cash arriving from Yugoslavia were
quite large, we always checked with the central bank to get their
permission on a case-by-case before we accepted them."
Asked whether Popular Bank had acted prudently in maintaining a
banking relationship with the Yugoslav government during sanctions, he
said: "Our books were checked on by international institutions, for
example by the US Treasury and by HSBC, our biggest shareholder. They
found nothing wrong."
HSBC said: "We went and talked to a few senior people and got
assurances."
But it added: "We are a minority shareholder and don't have any
management control or responsibility for Popular."
Mrs Vukic, a veteran banker who headed Beogradska's offshore branch
between 1990 and 1996, set up the front companies at Popular with the
help of Mr Papadopoulos's law firm.
In the case of two companies, Antexol and Browncourt, Mrs Vukic and Mr
Papadopoulos's firm are accused of colluding to violate Cyprus central
bank regulations on setting up offshore businesses by failing to
provide documents required to prove beneficial ownership.
In both cases the named beneficial owners had never heard of the
companies in question, were astonished to be contacted by UN
investigators, and have threatened legal actions of their own.
During the Kosovo war, President Glafcos Clerides' government made an
effort to distance itself from Belgrade amid belated concern that
Cyprus's links with Mr Milosevic could damage its prospects for EU
accession. The central bank withdrew Beogradska Banka's offshore
banking licence in June 2000 because of insolvency -a decision
contested on procedural grounds by Mr Papadopoulos's law office.
Mr Afxentiou and Mr Lazarides last year promised full co-operation
with the UN tribunal in tracing the Milosevic funds. Officials from
the supervision department of the central bank of Cyprus spent several
weeks at Popular Bank collecting documents for possible use at the UN
war crimes tribunal.
The government has also promised full co-operation with the UN
tribunal. But it has stopped short of ordering an investigation into
whether the central bank and the commercial banks violated
international rules against money-laundering in the case of the
Milosevic funds.
Michalis Papapetrou, the government spokesman said: "In the past two
years, we have tightened up on regulations to combat illegal financial
dealings, and the international organisations have approved the
measures we've taken. We've done whatever was required."
==================
Cypriot caught in Milosevic's tangled web
By Kerin Hope
Published: July 24 2002 21:43 | Last Updated: July 24 2002 21:43
As Cyprus's most prominent lawyer and leader of the centre-right
Democratic party, Tassos Papadopoulos belongs to a group of Greek
Cypriots nicknamed "the untouchables" because of their longstanding
hold on power.
Their ability to shape policy behind the scenes is based on ties
forged in the struggle for independence against British colonial rule
in the late 1950s, and on a network of personal and family connections
that cuts across party political boundaries.
Mr Papadopoulos, 67, who studied law in the UK, started his political
career as a "freedom fighter" with Eoka, a guerrilla organisation that
staged bomb attacks and kidnappings of UK soldiers. After independence
in 1960, he became the fledgling republic's youngest cabinet minister
at the age of 24. Four other cabinet posts included a successful stint
as labour minister when he set up Cyprus's social security system,
thereby laying the foundations of his popularity with leftwingers.
At present Mr Papadopoulos is negotiating to win formal backing from
Akel, the unreconstructed Cyprus communist party, for his candidacy in
next February's presidential election. With Akel - the island's
biggest party - behind him, Mr Papadopoulos would be the overwhelming
favourite to succeed 83-year-old President Glafcos Clerides, who is
due to retire.
>From the moment Cyprus launched itself as an offshore centre in the
early 1980s, Mr Papadopoulos's law firm became active in registering
offshore companies according to central bank regulations.
As the legal adviser in Cyprus to Beogradska Banka, the Yugoslav state-
owned bank, Mr Papadopoulos developed a close working relationship
with Borka Vukic, who headed the bank's offshore branch in Nicosia
from 1990 to 1996.
Yugoslav officials have told international war crimes investigators
that Mrs Vukic, one of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's
closest associates, masterminded the massive cash transfers in the
1990s from Belgrade to Cyprus.
At that time Mr Papadopoulos's firm had a reputation among Greek and
Yugoslav businessmen for being able to set up an offshore company
within three working days. It would suggest the companies should open
accounts at Popular Bank of Cyprus. Mr Papadopoulos is also Popular's
legal adviser.
Although Mr Papadopoulos maintained contact with the Milosevic
government throughout the 1990s, he says he met Mr Milosevic only
once, while visiting Belgrade at the start of the Kosovo war in 1999.
As well as his relationship with Mrs Vukic, he was in close touch with
the Yugoslav ambassador and embassy officials in Nicosia, and would
meet high-ranking Yugoslav officials whenever they came to Cyprus.
In an interview last month with the independent Nicosia daily Politis,
Mr Papadopoulos defended the activities of the front companies he set
up. He said: "We're not talking about the laundering of dirty money.
It was the money of the Yugoslav state, which they [the companies]
were transferring to break the US embargo."
In spite of his support for Mr Milosevic's sanctions-busting, Mr
Papadopoulos still has the backing of Alecos Markides, the Cyprus
attorney general.
When Ljiljana Radenkovic, an employee of Anglo Yugoslav Bank,
Beogradska's UK subsidiary, complained last year that Mr
Papadopoulos's firm had made her the beneficial owner of Antexol (a
Yugoslav front company) without her knowledge, Mr Markides decided
against launching an investigation.
Instead he referred Mrs Radenkovic's complaint to the disciplinary
board of the Cyprus lawyers' association. The association, which is
headed by a partner in Mr Papadopoulos's firm, cleared him of any
wrongdoing. Mrs Radenkovic said she would open legal proceedings in
Cyprus against Mr Papadopoulos.
Western diplomats in Nicosia have often voiced concern about Mr
Papadopoulos's connections with the Milosevic government, although the
US embassy declined to comment on reports he was put on a Washington
blacklist in the mid-1990s.
Earlier this month, Mr Papadopoulos was the only Cyprus political
party leader not to be invited to the US ambassador's July 4
reception. A US embassy spokesman said: "We don't make comments about
our guest lists."
==============
: Financial Times
On May 21, 6:11 am, "CroRadio.net" <i...@cyberdude.com> wrote:
CroRadio.net
Tassos aide quizzed on links to Serbian bankers
By Elias Hazou
A FORMER close associate of Tassos Papadopoulos insisted yesterday he
had no personal relations with a Yugoslav national subsequently
identified as a key player in sanctions-busting during the 1990s, but
admitted he was friends with the woman known as Slobodan Milosevic's
banker.
Pambos Ioannides was testifying in court in the case of Tassos
Papadopoulos and Co vs the Financial Times.
It was the fourth hearing in a libel case brought by Papadopoulos
against the paper for reporting in 2002 that his law firm had close
ties with companies suspected of siphoning money abroad.
Ioannides, now managing partner with the law office, was cross-
examined by the FT's chief lawyer Pavlos Angelides.
Testifying in an earlier hearing, Ioannides had said he did not recall
one Zoran Markovic, the executive director of Beogradska Banka, a
state-owned Yugoslav bank.
He had also verified a document he signed in January 1995 instructing
the Popular Bank to pay Markovic 7 million DEM (Deutschmarks) in cash.
A UN investigation into war crimes perpetrated in Yugoslavia named
Markovic as one of the cash couriers, bringing suitcases filled with
hard currency to Cyprus on numerous occasions.
Ioannides again denied being personally acquainted to Markovic
yesterday, but conceded that he attended a funeral in Belgrade where
the former was proven to be present.
The funeral was of the husband of Borka Vucic, one-time head of
Beogradska Banka COBU, the offshore branch of the eponymous Yugoslav
bank, and a close associate of then Serbian President Slobodan
Milosevic.
Ioannides admitted he was friends with Vucic, "through their business
together".
"But you did not know Mr Markovic, even though he was a high-ranking
officer at Beogradska? You expect us to believe that?" pursued the FT
lawyer.
"I knew a lot of people, I had a lot of connections, but I don't
specifically recall the man," said Ioannides.
Angelides next quizzed the witness about Antexol Trade Ltd, an
offshore company registered by the Tassos Papadopoulos office.
Antexol was one of eight offshore companies mentioned in a report by
Morten Torkildsen, a special prosecutor for the International Criminal
Court probing human rights crimes in Yugoslavia in the 1990s.
Since it was an offshore company, its real owners or beneficiaries
could not be Cypriots. The Tassos Papadopoulos law firm were acting as
the nominee shareholders and directors, one of whom was Ioannides.
Grilled by Angelides, Ioannides said he was not aware of the nature of
Antexol's business.
The court heard how Antexol was established in the name of Mrs
Ljiljana Radenkovic, who at the time was working in London for an
Anglo-Yugoslav bank. She had never heard of Antexol and had no idea
she was the company's owner until years later.
Angelides was trying to demonstrate that Antexol was a front.
Antexol was struck off the company registrar's record in August of
2003 as a defunct company, just months before a hearing in a different
case in November of the same year.
"And did you receive instructions from a Mrs Budicin [subsequent owner
of Antexol] to close down the company?" asked Angelides.
"In 2003, did you receive instructions from her to relinquish her
rights to Beogradska, and do you have any documentation to that
effect?"
Ioannides said he did not have any such documents in his possession,
suggesting that the FT lawyer should obtain them from the Central
Bank.
"We have checked with the Central Bank, sir, but found nothing. And
you know why? Because they were covering your tracks," asserted
Angelides.
"So you had no clue about Antexol's affairs. Then how can you be sure
they were not engaging in illegal activities? Did they purchase
foodstuffs, arms... what?"
"Foodstuffs perhaps, but arms no," replied Ioannides.
Angelides then produced a number of credit orders, dating to 1997,
issued by offshore companies registered by the Tassos Papadopoulos law
firm.
The documents instructed the Popular Bank to transfer various amounts
(in US dollars or DEM) to accounts in Turkish banks in Istanbul.
The transfers were made via a bank in Germany. Some of the credit
orders bear the signature of Marios Eliades, a partner in the Tassos
Papadopoulos law office at the time.
"Why did you make payments to Turkish banks? Were you by any chance
financing Attila [the occupying forces]? Did you bother to check where
the money ended up?"
Ioannides said it was not their responsibility to check, since they
were acting on their clients' instructions. In any case, he added,
wire transfers to Turkish banks were "not unusual" back then as today.
The banter between the lawyer and witness then strayed from the
subject-matter and into politics.
"Mr Ioannides, in 2004 President Tassos Papadopoulos called nenekous
[traitors] those who backed the Annan plan. Now that I am showing you
financial documents of shady dealings with Turkish interests, what do
you have to say for yourself?"
"This is politics and has nothing to do with case. You are playing to
the journalists in the courtroom," replied a defiant Ioannides.
The trial resumes today.
Copyright Cyprus Mail 2007
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Date: Mon, 17 Feb 2003 10:48:47 -0500
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Subject: Cyprus: Nationalist hard-liner linked to Milosevic
elected
president
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII
Backed by an alliance of the nationalist right and the communist left,
Tassos Papadopoulos was elected president of Cyprus in Sunday's
elections. The British-trained advocate was a prominent member of
Eoka, the guerilla group that campaigned in the 1950s against British
rule for union with Greece, and has rarely tried to dispel his
reputation as a diehard nationalist. In the early 1960s he was second
in command of the Akritas organisation, whose avowed aim was to rid
the island of Turkish Cypriots - a goal that ignited much
intercommunal fighting and eventually led to the Turkish invasion in
1974. In the '90s, as Greeks supported the Serbs during the Balkan
wars, his law firm was alleged to have set up companies through which
the Milosevic regime is believed to have circumvented the UN embargo
and channelled funds for its armed forces. His alleged involvement in
such activities got him blacklisted from receptions at Western
embassies. Milosevic's financial dealings with the Greek Cypriot banks
and firms that helped him circumvent UN sanctions during the 1990s are
described in an expert report prepared for the ICTY by Morten
Torkildsen. The full report is available on line at
http://hague.bard.edu/ICTY%20documents/Torkildsen_financing.pdf
http://hague.bard.edu/reports/Prosecution%20Corrigendum.pdf Andras
Riedlmayer
=======================================================================
http://www.gfbv.de/gfbv_e/media/openletter.htm Cyprus: Open letter to
Dimitris Christofias A man discredited by his association with
Milosevic: Papadopoulos should not become President of Cyprus!
Goettingen/Nicosia, September 2002 Open letter Mr Dimitris Christofias
Representative of Akel Nicosia, Cyprus Dear Mr Christofias, Your
party, AKEL, has taken the decision, to support the Presidential
candidacy of Tassos Papadopoulos, the representative of the Democratic
Party (Diko). As a result Cyprus faces the prospect of a President who
came to acquire part of his personal wealth through his close links
with the genocide in Bosnia and was involved in the civil war
involving parts of the Turkish- and Greek-Cypriot communities in 1963.
In 1974 the military junta in Turkey, a country nominally governed by
the Social Democrat Ecevit, took advantage of a short-lived putsch on
the island organised by the fascistic Greek Colonels to invade Cyprus.
The Turkish army committed acts of brutality, torture, rape and murder
in the northern part of the island. Neither the USA nor the sponsoring
power, Great Britain, acted to defend Cyprus's sovereignty.
Approximately 1,500 Greek-Cypriots lost their lives while the
occupying power allowed another 1,600 to disappear completely. Some 37
per cent of the island's area was occupied and approximately 180,000
Greek-Cypriots, Maronites and Latins were expelled. Since then the
northern part of the Republic of Cyprus - a small, democratic European
state under the rule of law and a member of the UN, the European
Council, the OSCE and soon also the EU - has remained under Turkish
occupation, contrary to international law and countless UN
Resolutions. In 1992 the Communist government of Milosevic embarked on
a war of aggression directed against the internationally recognised
republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina. 200,000 Bosnians died in the ensuing
genocide, some 90 per cent of whom were Muslims. Approximately 30,000
Bosniaks died in concentration camps while 30,000 Muslim women were
raped, including thousands brutally abused for months on end in the
rape camps. For four years the capital city of Sarajevo was - like
many other Bosnian towns - under siege, its population subjected to
starvation and daily bombardment by artillery and tanks. The "Book of
Remembrance" in Sarajevo lists the names of 11,500 dead including
1,500 children under 14 years old. The mass execution of 8,000 youths
and men in Srebrenica by Serbian special forces has become synonymous
with the crimes committed in Bosnia under the Serbian head of state's
authority. Milosevic is currently standing trial for genocide and war
crimes perpetrated in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Our human rights
organisation campaigns worldwide against genocide and the expulsion of
populations. Regardless of the perpetrator we are committed to
campaigning on behalf of the victims. In 1991 we invited an all-Cyprus
delegation to visit the former German capital of Bonn for talks with
the Speaker of Parliament and German politicians. The Turkish- and
Greek-Cypriots concerned expressed their commitment to the cause of
coexistence and the reunification of their divided country. Prior to
this, in the spring of 1989, GfbV staff members took part in the
"Women return home" march across the demarcation line in the occupied
village of Akhna. We have published numerous reports documenting
abuses committed in Cyprus. As an NGO with consultant status at the
United Nations we regularly refer human rights violations committed by
Turkey in Cyprus to the UN Commission on Human Rights. Gesellschaft
fuer bedrohte Voelker (GfbV) / Society for Threatened Peoples (STP)
also welcomes the possibility of leading Turkish generals and
politicians being brought to justice before an International Court to
answer for crimes committed against Cypriots in 1974. As Cypriots,
Europeans and citizens of the World you might have been expected to
show your solidarity with all other victims of war crimes and
dispossession. It is regrettable enough that ill-judged anti-Muslim
sentiment has led many Greeks and Greek-Cypriots to sympathise with
the Serbian perpetrators rather than with their Bosnian victims. The
southern Slav Bosnians are of course no less European than the Germans
or the Cypriots. We do not wish at this point to detail all our many
actions on behalf of the victims of Serbian genocide in Bosnia and our
efforts aimed at ensuring that the perpetrators are punished and
expulsees can return home. We would nevertheless remind you that 50
times as many civilian victims died in the genocide perpetrated by the
Serbian Army in Bosnia as did in the genocidal atrocities in Cyprus.
Today you are supporting the election as President of a man whose
personal wealth is in part derived from his close association with the
man who bears primary responsibility for the genocide in Bosnia.
According to the Financial Times, four billion dollars were moved from
Belgrade to Cyprus during the Bosnian war (1992-1995), to accounts
with Laiki Trapeza (People's Bank) in Nicosia that were administered
by a representative of Beogradska Bank, Borka Vukic. The legal adviser
to both those banking institutions was your Presidential candidate,
Tassos Papadopoulos. We consider the allegations published in the
British press adequately substantiated and convincing. Tassos
Papadopoulos himself met with the mass murderer Milosevic in Belgrade
at the start of the war in Kosovo in 1999. This was four years after
the massacre at Srebrenica. It is far from our intention to lay the
blame for all wrongdoing in matters relating to Bosnia at Cyprus's
door. For years Great Britain and France gave full political and
diplomatic support to Milosevic's aggressive actions against
neighbouring countries. According to the British newspaper the
Guardian the British Prime Minister John Major even allowed part of
his election campaign to be funded by the butcher Radovan Karadzic. It
is only now that Tony Blair has instigated a fundamental policy change
allowing many war criminals in Bosnia to be arrested by British
soldiers. Tassos Papadopoulos is a man whose economic interests have
linked him to the crimes of Milosevic, Karadzic and Ratko Mladic and
who as far as Turkish-Cypriots are concerned is tainted not only by
his past actions in 1963 but also by his close association with
Milosevic. This is not a man who should be offering himself as a
candidate for the Presidency and he is certainly not a man fit to
become President of Cyprus. The next President of Cyprus must have a
clean past and be acceptable to all other EU Member States. With
prospects hopeful for a reunited Cyprus Tassos Papadopoulos is not an
acceptable candidate. We are, incidentally, very surprised to find
AKEL, a party that has always maintained exemplary relations with
Turkish-Cypriot democrats and trade unionists, besmirching a proud
reputation through its support for this candidate. Yours sincerely,
Tilman Zuelch General Secretary N.B.: This open letter is intended
primarily for the Cypriot media. We look forward to the rapid
reunification of Cyprus and are calling for every Cypriot to be able
to return to their own home and place of origin and to be able to
regain possession of their own property. These are demands that are
being implemented on a step by step basis in the case of the Bosnians.
______________________________________________________________________
http://www.dw-world.de/english/0,3367,1430_A_780927_1_A,00.html Radio
Deutsche Welle 17 February 2003 Cypriot Election Result Casts Doubt on
Island's Reunification PHOTO: Tassos Papadopoulos: Two weeks to accept
U.N. plan and prove doubters wrong Greek Cypriots elected
"rejectionist" Tassos Papadopoulos president on Sunday. Hopes are he
won't endanger United Nations plans to end the 28-year division of the
island. Greek Cypriots voted for "change" in the presidential poll on
Sunday, electing 69-year-old Tassos Papadopoulos with 51.5 percent of
the vote. Glafcos Clerides, the incumbent with two presidential terms
behind him, suffered a clear defeat, earning 38.8 percent. While
Clerides tried to convince voters that he hadn't had enough time to
solve Cyprus' problems, Papadopoulos promised Greek Cypriots things
would be different if he were elected. The poll was considered a
referendum on the United Nations plan that was drafted to reunite the
Greek and Turkish parts of the island in time for it to join the
European Union as one state. Criticism of U.N. plan Papadopoulos, who
is considered a hardliner, has been vocal about weaknesses he sees in
the U.N. blueprint, alleging that Turkish Cypriots will be sold short
by the deal. His criticism has focused on the return of displaced
persons to their former homes, which the plan limits. The incoming
president, however, attempted to distance himself from his
"rejectionist" image on Sunday. "It is our commitment and our duty to
continue the negotiations with flexibility and good will to bring
about the necessary improvements to the U.N. peace plan so that it
becomes a workable and viable solution," he said. Tit for tat
Political observers fear that if Papadopoulos proves difficult in
negotiations, the Turkish Cypriots, under the leadership of Rauf
Denktash, may too insist on changes, and the two sides will fail to
meet the Feb. 28 deadline for agreement set by U.N. Secretary General
Kofi Annan. The U.N. reunification plan foresees the two sides sharing
power as well as exchanging land and populations. Annan's timeline
foresees referenda on the proposal to be held in both parts of the
island by May 30. The united country would then sign a European Union
accession treaty on April 16. Regardless of whether reunification
takes place, the Republic of Cyprus will join the EU in May 2004. Left
supports right Though largely unknown abroad, Papadopoulos has long
been involved in Cypriot politics. He studied law in London and is a
veteran of EOKA, the Greek Cypriot nationalist guerilla movement that
fought for independence against British rule in the 1950s.
Papadopoulos was a close associate of Cyprus' first president
Archbishop Makarios and was involved in drafting Cyprus' constitution.
He was a cabinet member from 1960 to 1972 in numerous capacities: as
minister for the interior, finance, labor, health and agriculture. He
has been a member of Parliament since 1960. Since last year he has
headed the center-right Democratic Party (DIKO). The powerful
communist AKEL party, which supports reconciliation, and the Social
Democrats supported him in his bid for the presidency. In the 1990s,
while Greece supported the Serbs in the Balkan wars, Papadopulos' law
firm allegedly enabled Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to
channel funds through Cyprus, circumventing the U.N. embargo to fund
Serb armed forces. The island of Cyprus has been divided since 1974
when Turkey took control of one third of the country in the north,
prompted by an Athens-supported coup in Nicosia aimed at uniting the
island with Greece.
________________________________________________________________________
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/02/17/1045330535353.html The
Age (Australia) February 18 2003 Diehard nationalist may be able to
change his spots By Helena Smith Nicosia Tassos Papadopoulos, elected
as Cyprus's fifth President, is a clever lawyer but a controversial
figure who inherits the unenviable task of negotiating United Nations
plans to unite the divided island before it enters the European Union.
The 66-year-old conservative has rejected all previous UN attempts to
reunify Cyprus. In the 1970s, and again in the 1980s when the UN's
then secretary-general Boutros Boutros-Ghali produced his "set of
ideas" - the nearest Greek and Turkish Cypriots had ever got to
reconciliation - the hardline Mr Papadopoulos came down firmly on the
side of the rejectionists. His friends are now counting on him to keep
it that way, while his foes - a not inconsiderable number - are hoping
that as head of state he will finally see the light. The British-
trained advocate was a prominent member of Eoka, the guerilla group
that campaigned in the 1950s against British rule for union with
Greece, and has rarely tried to dispel his reputation as a diehard
nationalist. In the early 1960s he was second in command of the
Akritas organisation, whose avowed aim was to rid the island of
Turkish Cypriots - a goal that ignited much intercommunal fighting and
eventually led to the Turkish invasion in 1974. In the '90s, as Greeks
supported the Serbs during the Balkan wars, his law firm was alleged
to have set up companies through which the Milosevic regime is
believed to have circumvented the UN embargo and channelled funds for
its armed forces. His alleged involvement in such activities got him
blacklisted from receptions at Western embassies. But as a consummate
political animal, Mr Papadopoulos knows when to move with the times.
Campaigning for the presidency, he ran unabashedly on a ticket of
"change". Backed by Cyprus's powerful communist party, Akel, which has
long supported reconciliation, the wealthy right-winger promised he
could reach a settlement because "times had changed". In recent months
he has gone out of his way to pledge support for Turkish Cypriots,
even appealing to them to "participate in the happiness and welfare of
a united Europe" as he cast his ballot on Sunday. Veteran Turkish
Cypriot leader Rauf Denktash has already said he cannot do business
with Mr Papadopoulos because of his "Turk-bashing", hardline past. But
there can be little doubt that he will sit down with the new Greek
Cypriot President because Ankara has made it plain that it wants
negotiations to continue. Some Western diplomats point out that with
age Mr Papadopoulos has not only mellowed but may also be the man to
make the sort of compromises Greek Cypriots will accept in a
referendum needed to clinch any solution. - The Guardian
On May 21, 6:11 am, "CroRadio.net" <i...@cyberdude.com> wrote:
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Date: Mon, 7 May 2007 09:17:14 -0400
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the FT and Milosevic's missing millions
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http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.php?id=32177 The Cyprus Mail May
5, 2007 Papadopoulos associate grilled by FT lawyer in libel trial By
Elias Hazou SPARKS flew in court yesterday as a former business
partner of President Tassos Papadopoulos insisted their law firm had
no part in Yugoslav sanctions-busting in the 1990s. It was the second
hearing in a libel case brought by Papadopoulos against the Financial
Times for reporting in 2002 that his law firm had close ties with
companies suspected of siphoning money abroad. Papadopoulos himself,
his law firm Tassos Papadopoulos & Co, as well as the firm's partner
Nicos Papaesftathiou are suing the Financial Times for 250,000.
According to a report by Morten Torkildsen, an investigator at the
United Nations war crimes prosecutor's office, the Popular Bank of
Cyprus allowed a group of Yugoslav-controlled front companies to
operate in defiance of UN sanctions. The report named eight companies
in Cyprus which supplied Milosevic's government with fuel, raw
materials, spare parts and weapons to pursue wars in Bosnia in
1992-1996 and in Kosovo in 1998-1999. All eight ventures were
registered on the island as offshore companies by the Tassos
Papadopoulos law firm. The same firm acted as legal advisors for the
Popular Bank and for Beogradska COBU, the Nicosia-based offshore
branch of Beogradska Banka, a state-owned Yugoslav bank. According to
Yugoslav Central Bank officials, as much as $4 billion in foreign
currency is thought to have been transferred to Cyprus between 1992 -
the year the UN embargo came into force - and 1994. The funds were
mainly deposited in the Popular Bank and its Greek subsidiary, the
European Popular Bank. One of the contentious FT articles - published
on July 25, 2002 - states that an investigation by the paper "revealed
that instead of taking measures against Yugoslav sanctions-busting,
leading members of Cyprus' close-knit elite facilitated the
transactions". The paper alleged these included then Central Bank
Governor Afxentis Afxentiou, Kikis Lazarides, at the time chairman of
the Popular Bank, and Tassos Papadopoulos. "We never knowingly
violated UN sanctions or engaged in any wrongdoing or unlawful
activities," Pambos Ioannides, now managing partner with Tassos
Papadopoulos and Co., said in court yesterday. He was being cross-
examined by the FT's chief lawyer Pavlos Angelides. For more than four
hours, Ioannides was grilled over his law firm's connections to
Antexol and Browncourt Enterprises Ltd, two offshore companies
fingered by The Hague as engaging in sanctions-busting. Ioannides was
one of the directors of Antexol in the early to mid-1990s, something
he has not denied. Antexol was incorporated in 1992 by Tassos
Papadopoulos & Co as the nominees. But since it was an offshore
company, its real owners or beneficiaries could not be Cypriots. The
beneficiaries were named as Yugoslav nationals Ljljana Radenkovic and
Radmila Budicin. "As a professional lawyer, did it not ever occur to
you to run a background check on these companies? After all, suspect
Yugoslav front companies were all over the news at the time,"
challenged the FT lawyer. "That is not our business. We don't care
about the day-to-day affairs of our clients. If something illegal was
going on, we certainly did not know about it," replied Ioannides.
Angelides then submitted to the court a letter from Ljljana Radenkovic
addressed to Ioannides, in which she wrote: "I hereby confirm to you
that the shares [of Antexol] belong to Beogradska." One of the named
beneficial owners of Antexol, Radenkovic had never heard of the
company in question, and was subsequently astonished to be contacted
by UN investigators. "Did you tell Mrs Radenkovic that she was a
puppet?" queried Angelides. "Tell us the truth for once, Mr Ioannides.
Who was the real owner of Antexol: Mrs Radenkovic or Beogradska
Banka?" The witness said the letter was probably a normal specimen
document of internal correspondence, speculating that perhaps it
indicated that Antexol's shareholders had changed in the meantime. "I
aim to show you documents, sir, which you signed personally, where you
authorised the deposit and withdrawal of millions of dollars from
Antexol's account," said Angelides. "Over my 35-year-long career, our
office has dealt with billions of dollars, so that does not impress
me," retorted Ioannides. He described the FT reports as containing
"salacious allegations" aimed at discrediting Papadopoulos at a time
he was running for President. And he said the paper was "in cahoots
with blackmailers and other journalists" bent on assassinating
Papadopoulos' reputation. Tensions rose between Ioannides and
Angelides, who began trading banter and loaded remarks about anything
from politics to accountability to corruption in public life. At one
point, visibly agitated, the two men accused each other of being
"naive", forcing the judge to intervene and appeal for calm,
instructing them not to stray from the matter at hand. The trial
continues on May 7.
______________________________________________________________________________
Xinhua News Agency April 7, 2007 Cyprus denies president implicated in
missing fund during Milosevic era Cyprus has denied a press report
that its president Tassos Papadopoulos was implicated in missing
Serbian fund during Milosevic era, saying all the claims are
groundless. "Arbitrary efforts to link Tassos Papadopoulos' name to
the issue of Serbian capital during the Milosevic era is a trite
attempt to serve political motives that truth and reality dooms to
failure," the Cyprus Weekly Friday quoted government spokesman
Christodoulos Pashardis as saying. According to an investigation by a
United Nations tribunal, 4 billion U.S. dollars of Serbian government
were estimated to be moved through Cyprus to bypass sanctions during
the 1990s. Some of the funds were used to buy weapons, equipment and
fuel to pursue wars in Bosnia and Kosovo. Cypriot daily Alithia
reported that eight offshore Serbian companies were used in siphoning
of the state money, and all of them were registered as "trading
corporations" in Cyprus by the president Tassos Papadopoulos' law
firm. But government spokesman Pashardis rebutted, "If a law firm's
work in registering companies is considered a crime and is proof of
guilt, then I wonder where this criminal action stops and who is
without guilt since dozens if not hundreds of law firms in Cyprus are
legally involved in registering foreign companies." He claimed that
Cypriot authorities have worked "harmoniously" with Serbian officials
to trace the missing cash and they were grateful for Cyprus'
assistance in probing the matter. ###
On May 21, 6:11 am, "CroRadio.net" <i...@cyberdude.com> wrote:
CroRadio.net
Papadopoulos' Law ffice did not violate sanctions
04/05/2007
A senior partner in the Tassos Papadopoulos & Co Law Offices told a
court hearing on Thursday that no member of the office signed any
transaction or carried out any action knowing that it would constitute
a violation of the UN sanctions imposed on former Yugoslavia.
Lawyer Pambos Ioannides, one of the senior partners of Tassos
Papadopoulos & Co Law Offices, in his testimony before the Nicosia
District Court in the trial of the lawsuit filed by President of the
Republic Tassos Papadopoulos and his law office against the "Financial
Times" on allegations of involvement in money laundering and money
transfer by Serbian Beogradska Banka, said the article "contains
insinuations which impute the plaintiffs carried out illegalities and
improper, petty and trivial actions."
During his cross examination by the ''Financial Times'' lawyer Pavlos
Angelides, Ioannides said the Tassos Papadopoulos & Co Law Offices
"under no circumstances proceeded with any action which might have the
slightest responsibility of committing an illegality," adding that "we
are proud that we are acting 100% proper professionals."
The litigious articles, where damages of up to 250,000 Cyprus pounds
are being sought, were published in the 25 July 2002 issue of the
''Financial Times''.
The articles refer to allegations of activities by the plaintiffs to
promote money laundering, helping the late Slobodan Milosevic's
regime, violating UN sanctions and for illegal usurpation of funds
belonging to the Yugoslav state.
Angelides put to Ioannides that PCL Pelcam Trade Ltd Company was
registered by the Tassos Papadopoulos & Co Law Office and that members
of the office were shareholders, with prime shareholder Papadopoulos,
and with bank accounts in Switzerland.
Replying, Ioannides did not rule out the plaintiff being a
shareholder. He said the registering of companies with lawyers named
as shareholders is a normal practice as far as offshore companies are
concerned.
"There is nothing unusual that Tassos Papadopoulos or other lawyers in
his office are shareholders in companies which they have registered.
Companies with international activities are likely to have accounts
both in Cyprus and the US and any other country. This is not unusual,"
he added.
Ioannides also said it is possible for members of the office to have
acted as directors or under another capacity, adding that this is part
of normal services which law offices offer to offshore companies.
He pointed out that these directors do not deal with current trade
activities but act solely and strictly under their clients' orders.
"These directors do not exercise any management to decide which
actions will be carried out," he added.
As far as the bank accounts are concerned, Ioannides said that it was
possible that they were opened by members of the law office or by its
accountants or auditors, which is another normal practice following
clients' instructions.
He underlined that "no member of the office signed any transaction or
carried out any action knowing that it would constitute a violation of
the sanctions."
"I am completely categorical and I say that it was not in our
knowledge if any transaction was linked to an action which could have
possibly violated the sanctions," he added.
Ioannides told the court that Central Bank regulations were strictly
followed in the registration of offshore companies.
In his testimony, Ioannides could not confirm that that the eight
companies which were registered by the Tassos Papadopoulos & Co Law
Offices, among them ANTEXOL and
BROWN COURT
, had Beogradska Banka as the real holder.
Referring to Beogradska Banka, Ioannides said it cooperated with many
Cypriot banks, including the Bank of Cyprus, the Popular Bank and
Barclays Bank. He also said that it was a large bank with a big number
of Cypriots and foreigners and cooperated with hundreds of companies.
After the start of the Yugoslav crisis, he added, and the sanctions
imposed, multiple problems as far as the bank's operation and its
exchanges arose because the sanctions were not performed in uniform in
various countries.
He also said that many court procedures involving millions of pounds
began both in Cyprus and overseas by clients which the bank could not
any longer honour. So Beogradska Banka performed many of its
transactions through other banks, he added.
The lawyer for the Tassos Papadopoulos & Co Law offices said the
lawsuit was filed because of the "malicious and false" statements in
the newspaper report.
"The point is that they have slandered the plaintiffs and have not
shown nor did they intend to show any sign of proof that the
plaintiffs knowingly committed the least in these so called
illegalities that are being alleged in the report," Ioannides
concluded.
The hearing continues on 7 May when Ioannides will be cross examined
by Beogradska Banka's lawyer
On May 21, 6:11 am, "CroRadio.net" <i...@cyberdude.com> wrote:
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Date: Sun, 1 Apr 2007 15:59:51 -0400
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http://www.cyprus-mail.com/news/main.php?id=31616&cat_id=9 The Cyprus
Mail (Nicosia) Sunday, 1 April 2007 Cyprus in the Belgrade spotlight
By Elias Hazou TAKE a stroll down the streets of Belgrade and you soon
catch the buzz that Cyprus is the hot topic of discussion in street-
side cafés, shops and homes. If you guessed that the island's
popularity among Serbs is because of the Cyprus problem, you'd be
wrong. It is being mentioned because of its connection to the
siphoning of billions of dollars of state money in the 1990s during
the rule of late Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic. Partly under EU
pressure, the Serbian government has launched a long-awaited
anticorruption campaign to fight back against graft. Earlier this
month, Serbian authorities made their first indictment against Mihalj
Kertes, a key player during Milosevic's decade-long rule. Kertes was
detained on a request from Serbia's prosecutor for organised crime. He
was charged with abuse of position and criminal conspiracy for
allegedly transferring millions of dollars of state money to accounts
in Cyprus and elsewhere. According to a report prepared by The Hague's
chief financial investigator Morten Torkildsen, between 1998 to 1999
Kertes made several trips to Cyprus, bringing with him suitcases full
of cash worth an estimated total of $508 million. An estimated $4
billion is believed to have been moved through Cyprus during the
1990s. The funds were used to buy weapons, equipment and fuel for the
Milosevic regime to pursue wars in Bosnia and Kosovo, according to an
investigation by the United Nations war crimes tribunal. Investigators
have been unable to trace the funds, although there is a broad
perception among Serbs that the money ended up in the pockets of
tycoons associated with the Milosevic regime. Torkildsen was tasked
with investigating serious violations of international humanitarian
law committed in the Former Yugoslavia since 1991. The Norwegian
expert discovered that eight offshore companies registered in Cyprus
were used for sanctions-busting by the Milosevic government. All of
them were registered as "trading corporations" by the Tassos
Papadopoulos law firm. Among these, the most (in)famous were Antexol
Trade Ltd. and Browncourt Enterprises. The former was struck off the
company registrar's record in August 2003, all its traces having since
vanished. Though not news, the siphoning off of the Serbian people's
life savings abroad is back with a vengeance, following the airing of
a series of investigative news reports by Serbia's privately-owned B92
broadcaster. A gutsy, in-your-face broadcaster, B92 has been
presenting its findings in its 'Insider' series, which has got Serbs
talking and thinking about little else in the past few weeks. B92's
news team was recently in Cyprus, interviewing bankers, lawyers,
police and politicians. 'Insider' features lengthy comments from
Pambos Ioannides, a former partner with the Tassos Papadopoulos law
office and Ioannis Kasoulides, Foreign Minister from 1997 to 2003.
According to the show, in 1992 the United Nations imposed a strict
economic embargo on the former Yugoslavia. Milosevic and his aides
found a way around this, through the setting up of offshore companies
in a number of countries, including Cyprus. Say a Serbian businessman
wanted to buy something from abroad. He would deposit cash in
Yugoslavia's state-run Beogradska Banka. The money would then be flown
out to Cyprus, deposited in the account of one of the eight offshore
companies. These companies all had their accounts with the Cyprus
Popular Bank - now known as Marfin Popular Bank. Though the accounts
were with the Popular Bank, they were allegedly controlled by
employees of the Beogradska Banka branch here in Cyprus. As soon as
the cash was deposited, it became legal. Next, the offshore company in
question would give instructions to Beogradska to transfer amounts to
the businessman's account in Beogradska in Cyprus. But in 1996 Cyprus
introduced tougher money laundering laws, which imposed many
obligations on banks and financial institutions. Identification of an
offshore company's clients became a must. Moreover, any transaction
over Ł10,000 was subject to scrutiny by banking authorities. Despite
this, from 1998 to 1999 some 500 million deutschmarks (DEM) in cash
were brought in bags from Serbia to the island. Alternatively, the
money would be loaded onto buses making the trip from Belgrade to
Timisoara, Romania, and then on to Cyprus by plane. For example, in
1999 Browncourt Enterprises, which had an account with the Popular
Bank, gave instructions for payment of 112,000 DEM to yacht
manufacturers Ferreti for the purchase of a luxury yacht. And
according to a balance sheet dating to 1994 that was submitted as
evidence, Antexol had a turnover of Ł2.35 million, over Ł1 million in
payable interest, and hundreds of thousands of pounds in "management
fees". What's more, under the new regulations, the law office
registering an offshore company was obliged personally to know the
real owners of the company and identify them to the Central Bank. In
the case of Antexol, the beneficiaries were named as Yugoslav
nationals Ljljana Radenkovic and Radmila Budicin. But neither had any
idea they were being used to front the company in Cyprus. They only
heard of Antexol years later, and by that time their names had
appeared on a blacklist issued by the Office of Foreign Assets Control
of the US Treasury. With extensive footage of the Central Bank
building and the - now abandoned - Beogradska offices in Nicosia,
'Insider' also features pictures of Tassos Papadopoulos with Borka
Vucic, former manager of Beogradska branch in Cyprus. Vucic denies
that the bank had anything to do with money laundering. Pambos
Ioannides, then with the Tassos Papadopoulos law firm, maintains that
at the time they were trying to help out by facilitating the export of
money from the former Yugoslavia, which could then be used to buy much-
needed supplies for the suffering people there. It's a cover-up, no
doubt about it PREDRAG DJORDJEVIC, a Serbian businessman based in
Cyprus, is convinced that Beogradska masterminded the distribution of
the "dirty money". Djordjevic, who also appears on 'Insider', is
currently suing the Popular Bank for compensation and damages in a
900,000 deutschmark transaction that was never completed. Djordjevic
says he first heard of Antexol in 1994, after arranging to sell raw
cotton worth DM900,000 purchased from a Russian company to a Serbian
businessman. He had a licence issued on humanitarian grounds by the
United Nations that allowed him to sell cotton for making medical
products to a Serbian company while sanctions were in force against
Yugoslavia. To facilitate payment, Djordjevic opened an account at
Beogradska Banka in Nicosia in the name of Genemp, his trading
company. But instead of receiving the full amount from Belgrade
directly, Genemp was credited with DM537,000, which had been
transferred from Antexol's account at Popular Bank. Djordjevic is
claiming the remaining DM360,000 plus damages from Popular Bank. He
believes this amount was also credited to Antexol's account at Popular
Bank but was used for other purposes. The Popular Bank accepted
Antexol made the DM537,000 payment, but claimed it had no knowledge of
the DM900,000 transaction. Djordjevic believes the transaction went
bad probably because his company was mistaken for one of the fronts
that were part of the money-laundering web. He filed a complaint with
the police back in 1998, but has since heard nothing about the outcome
of the probe. "It's a cover-up, no doubt about it," he says.
_______________________________________________________________________________
http://www.b92.net/tv/program/serije.php#275 RTV B92 Beograd INSAJDER
Vlast Slobodana Miloševica pronašla je nacin da zaobidje sankcije UN i
iz zemlje iznese više od 10 milijardi dolara. Jednim delom, to je bio
novac gradjana ove zemlje, ali i prljav novac od šverca cigareta,
drugih sumnjivih poslova i kriminalnih aktivnosti vlasti...
Transakcije pokazuju da je oko 7 milijardi dolara potrošeno na uvoz
oruzja i vojne opreme, na nabavku lekova ili vraceno za isplatu plata
i penzija. Nekoliko milijardi nikada nije pronadjeno. Prema saznanjima
do kojih je došla ekipa "Insajdera" taj novac je završio na raznim
privatnim racunima kao provizija za usluge. Drzava Srbija je vrlo
smišljeno pljackana godinama. Sedam godina posle promene vlasti oni
koji su opljackali gradjane prošli su nekaznjeno. EU i Hag tvrde da se
radi o jednom od najvecih pranja novca izmedju dve drzave, Srbije i
Kipra. Insajder otrkiva mehanizam na koji je drzava iznosila novac,
identifikuje za šta je sve taj novac bio korišcen (na primer, ekipa
Insajdera je došla do dokaza koji pokazuju da Srbija jeste finansirala
rat). Insajder otkriva mehanizam na koji je nova vlast te pare mogla
da vrati u zemlju i na koji nacin JOŠ UVEK moze da ih vrati u zemlju.
Niko nema odgovor na pitanje zašto su izgleda svi odustali od tog
novca, što ukazuje da je mozda napravljen dogovor da se od dalje
potrage odustane. Situacija postaje posebno apsurdna jer nas SAD s
vremena na vreme ucenjuju za 30 miliona dolara, dok mi kao zemlja
istovremeno negde napolju imamo nekoliko milijardi. Iako je neophodna
prava policijska istraga do nje ne dolazi za koju još uvek nije kasno.
Zbog toga je ekipa Insajdera došla do konkretnog rešenja šta drzava
moze da uradi da pronadje novac. -- ponedeljkom u 21.00
On May 21, 6:11 am, "CroRadio.net" <i...@cyberdude.com> wrote:
CroRadio.net
Date: Mon, 5 May 2003 13:13:36 -0400
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Subject: ICTY probing Milosevic's Greek connections
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http://news.ft.com Financial Times (London) April 23 2003 Greece to
stress support for war court UN Tribunal: Foreign minister affirms
backing amid concern over Greek companies' involvement with Milosevic
By Kerin Hope in Athens and Eric Jansson in Belgrade Greece will today
reaffirm its willingness to co-operate fully with the United Nations
war crimes tribunal amid concern over a possible cover-up of Greek
companies' involvement with the regime of Slobodan Milosevic, the
former Yugoslav president. George Papandreou, foreign minister, is due
to have talks with Carla del Ponte, the tribunal prosecutor, in
Brussels. The meeting was arranged after the Financial Times reported
last week that Ms del Ponte had been trying unsuccessfully for two
months to see Mr Papandreou. "We have a clear intention to work
closely with the investigators to provide the tribunal with whatever
material is needed," a Greek official said yesterday. Although the
Greek Justice Ministry has provided documents from Greek banks, it has
not sent all the material requested by the tribunal investigators.
Greece kept close political and economic ties with the Milosevic
regime during the Balkan wars of the 1990s. Mr Milosevic owned
property and kept a yacht in Greece, while Athens-based companies
supplied Belgrade with petroleum products in defiance of UN sanctions
against the former Yugoslavia, with the collusion of Greek
authorities. Deals involving state-owned Greek companies included the
supply of equipment for the Bosnian Serb army and technical studies
carried out by OTE, the public telecommunications operator, for the
Bosnian Serb government without asking for payment. With Greece
holding the EU presidency, Ms del Ponte would also press for further
European Union support to pursue the arrest of prominent alleged war
criminals, among them Radovan Karadzic, the former Bosnian Serb
president, and Radko Mladic, commander of Serb forces in Bosnia, a
tribunal official said. Athens would offer to co-operate with any
effort launched by the Serbian authorities to trace billions of
dollars transferred abroad by the Milosevic regime, the Greek official
said. Mladjan Dinkic, the Serbian central bank governor, says Mr
Milosevic and his family deposited money in some 50 countries. In
trying to trace Milosevic-era transfers, investigations by the UN
tribunal have focused on Cyprus and offshore havens with close ties to
Belgrade. But Serbian officials' own efforts have been limited. Mr
Dinkic has blamed the failure to track the Milosevic-era funds on
"limited resources and fading interest".
_________________________________________________________________________
http://news.ft.com Financial Times (London) April 15, 2003, Tuesday
Greek Cypriot leader's law firm linked to funding web for Milosevic:
Doubts persist about the regulation of Cyprus's offshore companies as
it prepares to join the European Union. In a Financial Times
investigation, Kerin Hope reports The mood among Greek Cypriots is
buoyant. Their small island on the edge of Europe is on the threshold
of joining the European Union, a glorious and historic moment for a
community of little more than 500,000 people. Tassos Papadopoulos, a
veteran lawyer who in February was elected president of the Greek
Cypriot-controlled south of the island, is polishing the brief speech
he will deliver at a once-in-a-lifetime event. Tomorrow Mr
Papadopoulos will join leaders of the EU's 15 member states and the
other nine new entrants at a glittering ceremony in Athens. The new
members will sign their EU accession treaties in the Stoa of Attalos
-- a restored ancient shopping mall -- in the shadow of the Acropolis.
But accession is a business opportunity too. Greek Cypriot bankers,
accountants and lawyers are eager to expand their business in EU
markets when Cyprus becomes a member in May 2004. Yet doubts persist
about Cyprus authorities' commitment to regulating international
companies according to EU best practice. The obstacles faced by two
Serbian bankers who are trying to trace records of Cyprus-based
offshore companies involved in UN sanctions-busting during the
Yugoslav succession wars have highlighted these problems. And the law
firm founded and still controlled by Mr Papadopoulos is at the centre
of the dispute. The island's financial services sector, worth about
Dollars 300m a year, covers some 1,100 international companies based
in Cyprus as well as several thousand brass-plate operations, which do
not operate offices in Cyprus. More companies are expected to set up
on the island after Cyprus's accession to exploit the advantages of
operating from an EU member state. The government sees financial
services as a promising growth sector that will help reduce the Greek
Cypriot economy's dependence on tourism. The tourist industry, which
accounts for about 20 per cent of gross domestic product, has faced
problems since the September 11 2001 attacks. This season's bookings
have crumbled because of the war in Iraq. Ljiljana Radenkovic and
Radmila Budisin are former senior executives at Beogradska Banka, a
state-controlled bank with links to Slobodan Milosevic, the former
Yugoslav president now on trial in The Hague for war crimes. They want
to press charges against the Greek Cypriot president's firm. They say
it has failed to provide documents about the activities of two front
companies -- Antexol Trade and Browncourt Enterprises -- that were
registered in their names by Mr Papadopoulos' firm. In separate
interviews with the Financial Times, the two women said they knew
nothing about the establishment and operation of the two front
companies. They added that they were not involved in signing the
company documents and they believe that other people's signatures were
used instead. Partners in Mr Papadopoulos's firm could face charges of
fraud and conspiracy if they cannot produce company documents signed
by Mrs Radenkovic and Mrs Budisin. The accountants who audited the
companies' books and officials at the Cyprus central bank, responsible
for supervising the activities of offshore companies, could face
charges of complicity. According to investigators at the UN war crimes
tribunal, Antexol and Browncourt were among a group of eight Cyprus-
based front companies -- all registered by Mr Papadopoulos's firm --
that were used to buy weapons, fuel and raw materials for the
Milosevic regime in defiance of UN sanctions against the former
Yugoslavia. Cyprus endorsed the sanctions, although -- unlike other
western countries -- the government did not introduce legislation
making them part of Greek Cypriot law. Carla del Ponte, the UN war
crimes prosecutor, in a confidential letter in August 2001 to the
Cyprus authorities, obtained by the FT, said she believed an
examination of records maintained by the law office of Mr Papadopoulos
"will provide further evidence of the Milosevic regime's wartime
funding arrangements" -- including purchases for the Bosnian Serb army
and paramilitary organisations. But the Cyprus government, headed at
that time by President Glafcos Clerides, ignored her request for
copies of all documents, including documents in electronic format,
relating to the front companies that were kept at Mr Papadopoulos's
offices. The Serbian bankers last October made a similar request.
Through a Nicosia-based lawyer, they asked Mr Papadopoulos's firm to
hand over all documents relating to the establishment and activities
of Antexol and Browncourt, as part of a joint effort to clear
themselves of involvement in sanctions-busting. The firm has failed to
provide any of the documents. Pavlos Angelides, the women's lawyer,
says: "These documents are the property of Mrs Radenkovic and Mrs
Budisin as the beneficial owners of the two companies. It is a
criminal offence under Cyprus law for Mr Papadopoulos's firm to
withhold them." The two women have taken a bold step. Few Greek
Cypriots would dare to challenge Mr Papadopoulos, the island's most
prominent lawyer and an influential member of its close-knit business
and political elite. He was backed for the presidency by his own
centre-right Democratic party and the Cyprus communist party, the
island's biggest political group. While Yugoslavia was shunned as a
pariah state in the 1990s, Cyprus-based banks and front companies
became the Milosevic regime's main financial link with the outside
world. These companies were financed with cash flown from Belgrade to
Cyprus and deposited in special accounts, mainly at Popular Bank, the
island's second biggest bank in which the UK-based HSBC group is the
largest shareholder. According to Serbian officials at least Dollars
4bn and perhaps as much as Dollars 12bn moved through Cyprus in the
1990s. According to Morten Torkildsen, an investigator with the UN war
crimes tribunal at The Hague, Antexol and Browncourt were both managed
by Beogradska's offshore branch in Cyprus. Mr Papadopoulos's firm set
up Antexol and Browncourt in 1992 and 1995 at the request of Borka
Vucic, head of Beogradska Banka's offshore branch in Nicosia and a
confidant of Mr Milosevic. Mr Papadopoulos was Beogradska's legal
adviser and, until he became president, was also an adviser to Popular
Bank. While Mr Papadopoulos handles affairs of state, his law firm is
being run by Pambos Ioannides, the managing partner. Mr Ioannides, who
served as a director of Antexol, brushed aside the Serbian bankers'
request. In a letter to Mr Angelides, he said they were involved "in a
malicious attempt to defame our law office". Mr Ioannides refused to
answer questions about the case. Mrs Radenkovic and Mrs Budisin said
they were determined to prove they had nothing to do with the front
companies. Mrs Radenkovic works for Anglo-Yugoslav Bank, a London-
based subsidiary of Beogradska which, like its parent, is being
liquidated. She said: "I'll do anything within reason to help the
relevant authorities get to the bottom of this story." Mrs Radenkovic
says she first heard of Antexol in 1995, when she agreed to sign a
power of attorney after Mrs Vucic threatened to send her back to
Belgrade and dismiss her from the company. The power of attorney was
used to transfer ownership of Antexol to Mrs Budisin, a cousin of Mrs
Vucic's late husband. As a result, Mrs Budisin became the owner of
Antexol as well as Browncourt. Together with Mr Papadopoulos, the
women were put on a US government blacklist in the 1990s because of
Antexol and Browncourt's role in sanctions-busting. They were banned
from visiting the US or working with US companies. Mr Papadopoulos
came off the blacklist after the sanctions were lifted in 1995, while
Mrs Radenkovic's name was removed last year after she hired a
Washington lawyer to press her case. Mrs Budisin's name is still on
the list. Mrs Budisin, the former head of Beogradska's legal
department, now has her own law practice in Belgrade. In an interview
she said: "I had nothing whatsoever to do with these companies. I am
determined to take whatever steps are required under Cyprus law to
rebut these charges and clear my name." The Serbian bankers have also
requested copies of documents concerning the two companies from
Popular Bank and from the central bank, which approved the companies'
registration. The central bank did not require the women's signatures
but only a bank reference, which was provided by Beogradska. Under
Cyprus company law, however, written authorisation from the owner is
required to appoint directors. Both owners and directors are permitted
to handle the company's bank transactions but, following corporate
best practice, a director would be expected to inform the owner when a
large transfer takes place. The owner would leave the director to
handle small-scale transactions. Mrs Radenkovic said: "As a banker, I
know that all those payment orders must have a signature. Someone
signed them but I definitely didn't." According to Mr Torkildsen's
report on transactions that bypassed UN sanctions on weapons purchases
in 1998-99, ahead of the Kosovo conflict, as much as DM560m was
deposited in Browncourt's accounts at Popular Bank. During the same
period, the company made 290 payments, most of which would be expected
to have written authorisation from the company's owner as these were
large-scale transactions. Mrs Budisin said: "I never signed anything
related to these companies." Popular Bank has not replied to the
Serbian bankers' request, Mr Angelides said. A bank spokesman told the
FT: "It's up to these women to prove they are the beneficial owners of
these companies before we can release any documents." The central bank
has also refused to hand over documents concerning Antexol and
Browncourt. Christodoulos Christodoulou, a former interior minister
who took over last year as central bank governor, said they could not
be made available because the Cyprus attorney-general's office was
investigating the companies in co-operation with the Yugoslav
authorities. He said providing documents "to a third party could
affect the course of the inquiry". Alecos Markides, the former
attorney-general, told the FT he launched an investigation in 2001, at
the request of the Belgrade government, into Cyprus's financial links
with the Milosevic regime. In August 2002 he said he had asked the
fraud squad to speed up their inquiries. The investigation has not yet
been completed. In February, Cypriot investigators failed to keep an
appointment to interview Mrs Budisin in Belgrade that had been
arranged in co-operation with Serbian authorities. The case of the
Yugoslav bankers was placed on hold during the presidential election
campaign. Earlier this month, Mr Papadopoulos appointed Solon Nikitas,
a supreme court judge, to replace Mr Markides. The new attorney-
general must decide whether to complete the inquiry launched by Mr
Markides. He must also consider Mrs Radenkovic's and Mrs Budisin's
request for an investigation to determine whether charges should be
brought against Mr Ioannides and other partners in the president's
firm. However, with Cyprus on the brink of EU accession, there appears
to be little appetite among Greek Cypriot officials to expose the
government to renewed international criticism over its support for the
Milosevic regime. Kypros Chrysostomides, the government spokesman,
summed up the situation from the Greek Cypriots' point of view:
"That's all in the past."
________________________________________________________________________
Agence France-Presse April 15, 2003 Tuesday UN war crimes prosecutor
seeks meeting with Greek FM ATHENS, April 15 (AFP) -- Chief UN
prosecutor Carla Del Ponte has asked for a meeting with Greek Foreign
Minister George Papandreou amid reports of concern Athens was
hindering probes into war crimes in the former Yugoslavia. Reacting to
a report in London's Financial Times on Tuesday, Greek foreign
ministry spokesman Panos Beglitis confirmed that Del Ponte had been
asking to meet Papandreou. He said the Greek minister has been unable
so far to meet Del Ponte because of a busy schedule but added that "a
date will be found soon." In a front-page report, the Financial Times
said UN investigators were worried that Greece was hindering their
enquiries into war crimes in the former Yugoslavia. The newspaper said
the war crimes trial was due to start within a few weeks of former
Serbian president Milan Milutinovic, who served as ambassador to
Athens during the rule of Slobodan Milosevic and was allegedly
involved in transferring large amounts of cash from Belgrade to banks
in the Greek capital. It said del Ponte wanted the meeting to seek
documents relating to Greece's alleged violations of sanctions imposed
on Yugoslavia in the 1990s. But Beglitis said Del Ponte wanted to meet
Papandreou in his role as foreign minister of the current EU
presidency "to discuss the cooperation of Western Balkan countries,
particularly Serbia," with the International Criminal Tribunal for the
former Yugoslavia (ICTY). "Greece has nothing to hide," Greek
government spokesman Christos Protopapas said. Greece supported Serbia
during the break-up of former Yugoslavia but later distanced itself
from Belgrade.
__________________________________________________________________
http://www.b92.net News from B92 for April 23, 2003 Del Ponte to
request extradition of Slobas Greek "friends" | 20:54 | Beta ATHENS --
Wednesday -- According to Greek daily Elefterotipia, The Hague's chief
prosecutor Carla del Ponte will ask Greek Foreign Minister George
Papandreou arrange the extradition of all Greeks who cooperated with
Serbia during the rule Slobodan Milosevic. The Athens-based daily
reports that Del Ponte will provide Papandreou with a list of Greek
businessmen who violated UN sanctions by exporting oil derivatives to
Serbia, as well as Greeks who volunteered to fight in Serb units and
supplied weapons. Del Ponte will request that these people be turned
over to the international tribunal as "war criminals".
On May 21, 6:11 am, "CroRadio.net" <i...@cyberdude.com> wrote: