Joe Biden, Milo Djukanovic, “Mafia State of Montenegro” and Propping Up Corruption in the Balkans
Montenegro: Is this Mafia State joining NATO?
First published via The Western Journal |First Published: April 25, 2014
By The Honorable Maurice McTigue, QSO, Natasha Srdoc, Joel Anand Samy and Boris Divjak.
Washington, DC — US Vice President Joe Biden met with Montenegro’s Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, April 8, 2014. The purpose was to address Montenegro’s interest in joining NATO.
The people of the Balkans depend on countries like America and officials like Vice President Biden to communicate to individuals like Prime Minister Djukanovic that corruption and international money laundering are major concerns, and that they expect to see measures put in place to stamp out this illegal activity. As America has put enormous resources to work to identify and prosecute those involved in money laundering, it expects its friends in the international community to help in this war against illicit transactions. Since 1995, Western taxpayers have sent over $100 billion in aid to Balkan nations.
Djukanovic’s leading role in Montenegro’s Communist Party (and its successor, the Democratic Party of Socialists) and his twenty-year reign as president or prime minister of Montenegro, are riddled with allegations of corruption, physical attacks on journalists, and ties to organized crime.
According to Washington, D.C.-based Global Financial Integrity, Montenegro’s $6.2 billion in illicit financial outflows (138% of GDP) via crime and corruption during 2001–2010 has hemorrhaged the economy. Around 40% of Montenegrin youth are unemployed.
Montenegro’s War on Journalists
Global media and anti-corruption groups continue to express concern over Montenegro’s unrelenting war on journalists. The assassination of a media editor in 2004, the recent bomb explosion at print media Vijesti on December 26 of last year, physical beatings of journalists, and the brutal attack on Lidija Nikcevic of daily newspaper Dan (Today) in January 2014 demonstrate a disturbing pattern.
On September 6, 2013, the Southeast European Times reported on Montenegro’s government being behind the attacks of critics: “[A] former member of the police’s special anti-terrorist unit told reporters on August 21st that his colleagues were involved in organized beatings of journalists, writers and opposition figures for years.”
A US Embassy cable sent on July 3, 2007 describes in detail the reported illegal trafficking of drugs, arms, and humans through Montenegro: “The ‘secret’ ANB (Agency for National Security) register, according to the media, said several groups in Montenegro that deal mainly in drugs and arms smuggling are connected with criminals from neighboring countries, Western Europe and South America.”
Alleged Banking Corruption
According to the BBC, PricewaterhouseCoopers’s audit of “Prva Banka” (The First Bank), controlled by Djukanovic’s family, suggested, “most of the money deposited at the bank came from public funds, while two thirds of the loans it made went to the Djukanovics and their close associates.” According to a cable sent by former US Ambassador to Montenegro Roderick Moore:
PM Djukanovic himself owns just under three percent of shares in the prominent local bank, Prva Banka. His brother has a nearly 47 percent stake in the bank, and his sister has a one percent stake, giving the family controlling interest. Prva Banka was the only Montenegrin bank to benefit from a government bailout package (40 million Euros total) as a result of the global economic crisis.
Based on research by The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) published by BBC, among the recipients of large Prva Banka’s loans was Darko Saric, a convicted drug smuggler.
On March 18, 2014, “Balkan Cocaine King” Darko Saric, who allegedly possessed official Croatian, Serbian, and Montenegrin passports, was arrested in Serbia. Canada’s government report on money laundering relays Serbian authorities’ claim that “Šarić used offshore companies to invest 100 million euros in Hypo Alpe Adria Group’s bank accounts, primarily located in Liechtenstein, between 2007 and 2009.”
In Italy, Bari prosecutor Giuseppe Scelsi accused Djukanovic of “having promoted, run, set up, and participated in a mafia-type association.” The Center for Public Integrity reported on the money trail reconstructed by Italian investigators: “From 1997 to 2000, the smugglers flew planeloads, literally, of banknotes in foreign currencies: 1.2 billion German Deutsche marks, 726,000 U.S. dollars, 136,000 Swiss Francs, and some 65,000 Austrian Shillings.” Fifteen couriers flew 178 times from Montenegro to Cyprus. The monies were further distributed to pay some tobacco makers, “[b]ut the bulk of it allegedly disappeared in at least two obscure companies with accounts in Liechtenstein banks.”
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) reported on seven murders surrounding the “Montenegro Connection,” which shocked even Italian investigators. Among those killed were Croatia’s editor of Nacional, Ivo Pukanic, and Dusko Jovanovic, editor of Montenegrin newspaper Dan. Both were witnesses against Djukanovic in Italy’s anti-mafia trial.
Principle, Not Political Expediency
The US should take a leading role in verifying the implementation of defense, security, and rule of law reforms as well as the establishment of an independent judiciary and a free press as a precondition for Montenegro to join NATO. These freedoms are required by NATO’s charter.
Strong rule of law nations must oppose the coexistence of organized crime and rampant corruption. These undermine freedom and human rights.
With unreformed Croatia and Albania having become NATO members, America’s taxpayers ought to be deeply troubled by another corrupt Balkan state joining the organization. Political expediency will weaken America’s economic and security interests.
Principled leadership is essential. The US and NATO cannot stand up to Russia’s brazen encroachment and the mafia state model by lowering its own guard and removing the vital principles of the rule of law. Instead, the US and NATO should implement the planned review of NATO’s members from post-communist Eastern Europe.
President Ronald Reagan’s resounding words are a reminder for today’s elected leaders: “Trust, but verify.”
The minimum requirement to preserving the alliance is fundamental: strengthening the rule of law and protecting individual liberty at home and abroad.
The Honorable Maurice McTigue, QSO is a former New Zealand cabinet member and co-chair of the executive advisory board of the Adriatic Institute for Public Policy. Natasha Srdoc and Joel Anand Samy are co-founders of Adriatic Institute for Public Policy and International Leaders Summit. Boris Divjak is a member of Transparency International in Berlin and co-founder of Transparency International Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Videos and further reading:
BBC: Montenegro — Corruption in the Balkans
BBC: Documents tarnish Montenegro’s EU bid, May 29, 2012
FOX News: Fox News’ Tucker with President Trump: ‘Are You Ready to Have Your Kids Die’ for Montenegro?
Joe Biden: Propping up corruption? — World Magazine
Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project | Balkan Cocaine Wars: the Kavač and the Škaljari
A cocaine-fueled feud erupted in 2014 between two crime clans from the picturesque tourist town of Kotor, on Montenegro’s coast. The war has pulled in other criminal groups and even some politicians and police, leaving a trail of murders across Europe.
