The spectacular rise and fall of Mr. Miskovic, an enigmatic figure who Serbian journalists say is suspected of paying the news media not to write about him, has riveted the region. The Serbian government hailed his arrest last December as part of a crackdown on organized crime and corruption to aid the country’s bid to join the European Union and shed a culture of lawlessness, a legacy of the Balkan wars of the 1990s.
Aleksandar Vucic, Serbia’s powerful first deputy prime minister, who is spearheading the fight against corruption, used his Facebook profile late last year to vent his frustration with the once seemingly untouchable business magnate. “Nobody has and nobody will beat Serbia, and that includes Miroslav Miskovic,” he wrote.
Prosecutors said Mr. Miskovic has been accused, along with his son Marko and nine others, of siphoning off more than $30 million during the privatization of a now bankrupt road repair company between 2005 and 2010. He was freed pending trial. If convicted, he faces up to 10 years behind bars.
Mr. Miskovic’s aides said he was not available for an interview. But his supporters insisted that the charges were politically motivated, and that he was being targeted as a scapegoat. A Web site produced by his company, Delta Holding, entitled “Who is Miroslav Miskovic?” said that he had committed no wrongdoing. “We reject all accusations,” said Branislava Milunov, a spokeswoman for Delta Holding.
The government’s pursuit of Mr. Miskovic is part of a growing effort to root out corruption among the newest members of the European Union, raising the admissions bar for aspiring entrants like Serbia. The Czech Republic recently intensified a high-profile anticorruption investigation that toppled the prime minister. Bulgaria has been mired in weeks of protests against endemic graft. Romania put a former prime minister behind bars last summer on corruption charges. Croatia, too, is grappling with organized crime even after joining the union last month.
A few days after posting the record bail, Mr. Miskovic made a rare public appearance at a news conference for his retail empire, where he said that he had been able to stay in touch with his business associates, even from his prison cell. Delta Holding is Serbia’s largest privately held company, with 7,200 employees across the Balkans, and a network of businesses that encompass real estate, food production, retail sales and insurance.
In a country that has struggled to shrug off economic hardship and corruption since the overthrow of the former Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic in 2000, analysts said Mr. Miskovic had become a potent emblem of the unhealthy link between business interests and the state that has allowed a handful of tycoons to amass enormous riches.
Mr. Vucic, the first deputy prime minister, has accused Mr. Miskovic of giving monthly ”allowances” ranging from $40,000 to $65,000 to some 20 senior politicians, the Beta news agency reported. He has also accused Mr. Miskovic of trying to bring down the government to avoid closer scrutiny of his business. Mr. Miskovic’s company spokeswoman declined to comment on the accusations.
“Miskovic simply became too big for this little country to be tolerated,” said Dejan Anastasijevic, the Brussels correspondent for Tanjug, the Serbian national news agency. “The crony system in Serbia created him, and now the state is trying to restore the balance.”
Mr. Miskovic’s business empire took root under Mr. Milosevic, whom he briefly served as deputy prime minister, assigned to privatize Serbian industry. His aides said he had resigned because he disagreed with Mr. Milosevic’s tactics. Mr. Milosevic died in his jail cell in 2006 during his trial for war crimes.
Article source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/05/world/europe/tycoons-trials-rivet-serbia-land-of-graft.html?partner=rss&emc=rss