Sunday, April 9, 2000

All President's (Dead) Men

Zoran Todorovic - Kundak
(1959-1997)

The death of Zoran Todorovic-Kundak was certainly the heaviest blow to the Milosevic-Markovic family. Kundak had been the man of Mrs. Markovic's utmost confidence and it is well known that Milosevic's wife plays the decisive role in the personnel policies of Slobodan Milosevic.

The Profile

Zoran Todorovic Kundak was born in 1959 in Sabac (a small town southwest of Belgrade). When he was seventeen, he joined the League of Communist of Yugoslavia (SKJ) and enrolled in the School of Political Sciences of the University of Belgrade. There he became the student vice-dean. Dr. Mirjana Markovic noticed him in 1986, when he became the Secretary of the Presidency of the Communist League's University Committee (UKSK). She took him under her wing and soon they became best friends.

Kundak distinguished himself as member of the working groups that made decisions on the responsibility of the members of the UKSK toward the communist party. He dismissed Konstantin Petrovic from the position of a teaching assistant at the Law School under the accusation that he was an agent of the terrorist organization "Red Brigade". While he was a student, and later in his life as well, Zoran Todorovic served Milosevic as the iron hand against all his real and potential political adversaries. Through her husband, who at the time was already the president of the Belgrade committee of the SK, Mirjana Markovic procured an apartment near the Hotel Majestic (in the very center of Belgrade) for Kundak as a reward for his merits.

Kundak was one of the earliest protagonists of the "anti-bureaucratic revolution" as he secured the political support of the Belgrade committee of the SK for Milosevic. The "anti-bureaucratic revolution" was the term used by the regime media for Milosevic's two-year rise to power. Kundak was among the first who condemned the editorial staff of the "Student" magazine. One cover page of the magazine was used as the pretext for Milosevic's showdown with Dragisa Pavlovic-Buca (now deceased) who was the president of the Belgrade committee of the SK at the time and with the president of the Serbian Presidency Ivan Stambolic. Telegrams of support by workers, farmers and "honest intelligentsia" to Slobodan Milosevic that were read during the Eight Congress of the Central Committee of the SK were written by Kundak himself and it is considered his greatest contribution to the rise of Milosevic. Kundak described the Congress with the following words - "It was a true Paris Commune!"

As a reward for his previous deeds, Kundak was appointed head of the Socialist Alliance of Workers (SSRN) of Belgrade in 1989. There he applied his concept of joining the financial with political power for the first time. It was the concept which would later be so successfully adopted by the Yugoslav Left (JUL, Mira Markovic's political party). He summarily dismissed the heads of large and powerful companies like Jugopetrol (petrol company), RK Beograd (chain of department stores), Belgrade Airport, BIGZ (publishing company), Centrokop (trading company) and Putnik (travel agency) and appointed his closest associates. The result was that he took the control over economy and finances of Belgrade. He tried - without success - to appoint himself general manager of Genex, the largest import-export company at the time.

This concentration of political and economic power in his hands provoked a reaction from the Committee "comrades". But more dangerous was Kundak's wish to transform the SSRN into the left-wing political party which would have been the SK's direct rival. Milosevic did not like the idea, so Kundak became the target of many attacks from the SSRN and various WWII veterans, youth and university organizations. To preclude the possibility of being dismissed, Kundak submitted his resignation from the position he had been appointed to, less than half a year earlier.

Business Career

The break in his political career was not a great loss for Kundak. With the help of his friends, who were not many, but were well positioned, three months after his resignation/dismissal he became the advisor at the Naftagas-HIP-Jugopetrol company. Several days later he became the vice-president of the company which had over US$5 billion annual turnover. There he came into conflict with Dragan "Jugopetrol" Tomic who is now the president of the Serbian Parliament. In this conflict Kundak went as far as to threaten Tomic with dismissal. The dispute was settled only after Kundak died.

After his failure in Jugopetrol, Kundak started his own business. At the time when the UN imposed sanctions on the FRY, he founded the ATL company which dealt in oil products and foreign currencies. By 1994 he had become so rich that when asked whether he would engage in politics again and found a political party, he replied: "I might buy one. They are quite cheap these days anyway." After a while, Kundak left ATL which made the company go bankrupt. Workers were laid off, salaries were not paid on time and two managers committed suicide.

Ubrzo, sa Branislavom Markićevićem, bratom ministra pravde Aranđela Markićevića, osniva privatno preduzeće TiM, koje se, pored nafte, bavi i drugim unosnim poslovima kao što su zastupanje IBM-a, Gold Stara, uvoz svile, sećera, brašna, cementa, deterdženata, izvoz bakra iz Bora. Firma ima predstavništva u Bombaju, Londonu, Gracu, na Kipru.

Owing to his acquaintance with the Minister of Justice Arandjel Markicevic who controlled economic courts, Kundak had easy access to the information about companies in financial trouble which could be bought cheaply. At the time, the public in Serbia was informed about the case of the state farming company "Zikica Jovanovic" in Banat (a province in northern Serbia) but this was just one of the many companies he took over in this way. According to a rental agreement, the farming company granted the TiM company the use of over 3,500 hectares of land at the price of around 60 DM ($30) per hectare. Additionally, the TiM company bought over 4,000 head of cattle for about 330,000 DM ($165,000). These prices were several times lower than the market prices. The fact that TiM promised not to lay off the workers might be taken as extenuating circumstances for Kundak. However, behind the generosity of this defender of the proletariat lies the fact that it was the state employment bureau that actually took care of the workers. Additional guarantees that TiM would fulfill its obligations were given by the Beobanka bank, the head of which was Zlatan Perucic, a high SPS (Socialist Party of Serbia, Milosevic's political party) official.

Return to Politics…

In 1995 Zoran Todorovic made his political comeback by becoming the Secretary General of the Yugoslav Left (JUL). The Directorate of this political party which is almost a private property of Mirjana Markovic, who constantly speaks of the rights of workers, consists of a number of the richest people in Serbia. The only time that the JUL, since its foundation, went on election independently was in 1996 (local elections), when their share of vote was incredibly small. It has never been the aim of this political party to base its strength on the support of voters anyway. It derives its influence exclusively from the power of its members, notably its president Mrs. Markovic.

The alliance between the SPS and the JUL has been a pain in the neck for many SPS members and they despised Kundak more than anyone else. A high SPS official once told Slavoljub Djukic, the author of the several books about the reign of the Milosevic-Markovic family, that Kundak was the only man he would gladly run over.

Kundak's last engagement was in 1996 when he organized a series of counter-rallies (supporting the regime) throughout Serbia during the anti-regime demonstrations. The most aggressive attempts to crush the demonstrations against the annulment of the 1996 local election results came from Mirjana Markovic and her political party. At the time, Ljubisa Ristic (Mrs. Markovic's close associate) said that Belgrade was occupied by chetniks (Serbian nationalist and monarchist guerrilla force formed during World War II to resist the Axis invaders and Croatian collaborators but that primarily fought a civil war against the Yugoslav communist guerrillas, the Partisans) and that consequently the JUL was starting an antifascist campaign. Numbers of rallies in support of president Milosevic are organized precisely in those towns and cities where the citizens were protesting against the annulment of the opposition victory in the local elections. Rent-a-mob was dragged from town to town provoking clashes with the locals.

The climax of the campaign was "the counter-rally of all counter-rallies" which took place on Tuesday, December 24, 1996, when Belgrade and Serbia were on the verge of civil war. It was the pure and concentrated hatred that killed the 35-year-old Predrag Starcevic that day. Predrag, a supporter of the opposition coalition "Zajedno", "died of the consequences of severe beating with a blunt mechanical object" according to the forensic report. Zivko Sandic, the SPS candidate in the local election in Vrsac, shot Ivica Lazovic, a member of the Serbian Renewal Movement from Boljevac, in the head. Today, Ivica is a vegetable. The CNN's footage of the monstrous act was broadcast worldwide.

The Murder

In the summer of 1997, Kundak became general manager of Beopetrol, the second largest petrol company in Serbia. This company was set up after the break-up of former Yugoslavia, when 200 petrol stations and other properties of the Croatian petrol company INA were seized. At the time when Zoran Todorovic became the first man in Beopetrol, the new Law on Privatization was adopted and was to come into force on November 1, 1997. Since the law restricted the terms of privatization, on September 19 the managing board of Beopetrol, at that time still a state owned company, passed the decision to privatize the company according to the old law. On September 13, Beopetrol was registered as a joint-stock company and the process of privatization started immediately. Apart from this change in ownership, the company was to be open to additional investment that would bring three times more capital than the estimated value of the company. Eleven days later, Zoran Todorovic was assassinated.

Zoran Todorovic Kundak was assassinated on October 24, 1997, at 8.05 a.m. in front of the Beopetrol building. He got out of a black Mercedes and shook hands with 32 years old Sinisa Milenkovic, a Beopetrol employee, who was standing next to a company Audi and waiting for a colleague. At that moment, a thin man, about 170 cm tall, around 20 years old, came running from a nearby bus stop. He fired two short bursts from an automatic gun (probably a Heckler) and shot Kundak in the head and the back. Sinisa Milenkovic was seriously wounded in the incident. According to the witnesses, the young man had a cap and a multicolored jacket. He must have used a silencer since there was almost no noise.

The police were on the crime scene for almost two hours. During the time, Zivko Soklovacki and Slobodan Cerovic, both high JUL officials, and Aleksandar Tijanic, one of the most eminent Belgrade journalists, were seen on the spot.

Who Is the Assassin?

Over 500 murders remain unsolved during the Milosevic's rule. Kudak's murder is one of them. It is not known who committed or who ordered them. They will remain unsolved until Milosevic's rule ends. The frightening fact is that the number of unsolved murders could increase, before that day comes.

The Funeral

Almost every high ranking regime official attended the funeral. Slobodan Milosevic, Zoran Lilic, Milan Milutinovic, Mirko Marjanovic, Dragan Tomic, Nikola Sainovic, Gorica Gajevic, Milorad Vucelic, Zorica Brunclik, the RTS director Dragoljub Milanovic, the director of Politika Dragan Hadzi Antic, the chetnik's duke Sinisa Vucinic. Ljubisa Ristic and Snezana Aleksic gave speeches, and the letter Mira Markovic sent from the distant India was read. She went there to promote one of her numerous books. It was an opportunity to see the president in tears.

Trivia

The Nickname
Many people associate Todorovic's nickname - Kundak (meaning "rifle butt") with his dictatorial behavior. However, Todorovic got his nickname when he used the term "kundacenje" (beating someone with a rifle butt) for the speech given by Stanko Matijasevic, the president of the League of World War II Veterans' Associations, in which he firmly opposed to giving Matija Beckovic the "July 7" award.

The Poet
Apart from his involvement in politics and business, he also had his poetic moments. Teodor A. was the alias he used to sign his poems with.

The letter from Mira Markovic which was read at Kundak's funeral

Dear Zoran,

I have never been further from you and yet so close. From the south of India, from Madras, I am unable to arrive to Belgrade today and to say goodbye - I, your best friend over these last 15 years. But I am sending you a message over the mountains and across the seas - I will never part from you.

My first thought was - never again our conversations, agreements, cares, rages, hopes - all within the same hour and during all these years.

I will miss you till I die. I would like you to know, now that you are leaving, that you are not leaving me. Please, look after all of us you left behind and I will look after you. And please do not be angry with me for the few reproaches. You have always been my comrade. Now I have forgiven you everything anyway.

You were helping everyone - those who were in need and those who were not. This is what we had in common. I will always be there for Danijela and I will love your children as I loved you.

Farewell,
Mira

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