Kalinic extradited

By Beth Kampschror

Serbian radio-television B92 had the background (as well as a video from the Croatian Interior Ministry):

Kalinić was tried and found guilty in absentia in Serbia in two trials: for his role in the 2003 assassination of Zoran Đinđić, and for 19 other murders. He received two sentences of 30 and 40 years in prison.

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He was apprehended in Zagreb in early June, when another Zemun Clan fugitive, Miloš Simović, shot and wounded him. Both Kalinić and Simović are now in jail in Serbia.

Lest anyone think Kalinic got off scot-free in Croatia, where he had lived as a fugitive for seven years, a Zagreb court sentenced him to 18 months in prison for possessing a Croatian passport issued to him under a false name.

Kalinic, a member of what was once Serbia’s most powerful organized crime group, is being held in the detention unit of Serbia’s special organized crime court. Justice officials there have indicated they’d like to question him about half a dozen unsolved gangland murders from the early 2000s. They seem eager to find out more about the murderous business of the Zemun Clan, the mob group that organized the prime minister’s assassination.

After that, if Kalinic doesn’t ask for the assassination-related case against him to be reopened (which Kalinic can do, as he was tried in absentia), he’ll be sent to serve his initial 40-year sentence in an eastern Serbian prison.

In other organized crime news from Serbia, the Austrian media reported last week that Darko Saric – the fugitive wanted for allegedly masterminding an attempt to smuggle more than two tons of cocaine from South America to the Balkans – had laundered €100 million through a troubled Austrian bank.

Austrian press reported today that suspected drug smuggling boss Darko Šarić laundered about EUR 100mn through loans taken from the bank for the construction of the Belville apartment block in New Belgrade.

Although Austrian daily Osterreich quoted Serbian authorities, B92 has not managed to find out whether an investigation into the affair is being conducted in Serbia. The investigation in Croatia even led to the highest state officials.

According to the Austrian daily, Šarić quickly stopped paying off the loans, and the bank internally settled the debt with his previous deposit of EUR 100mn, in effect laundering the money which "probably came from criminal activities."

Interior Minister Ivica Dacic could not confirm the report, but said he would check with his Austrian counterpart when he visited that country this week.

Serbian and Bosnian police last week also arrested several people in connection with smuggling arms and explosives. Serbian police directorate head Milorad Veljovic wasn’t forthcoming with names or amounts or types of weaponry, saying that the investigation is still underway. Veljovic did say that the action is aimed at stopping large amounts of weaponry from being smuggled into the region, and that police were still searching numerous locations in Bosnia and Serbia. The materiel, he said, was intended to be used for what B92 called “serious crimes and acts of terrorism.”

US makes more arrests in Albanian drugs gang case

In a case that seems to illustrate both the international nature of organized crime, as well as its tendency to draw in powerful state officials, US prosecutors last week charged a former Albanian government aide with murder, drugs trafficking, extortion and a host of other crimes related to a US-based Albanian drugs gang.

Prosecutors said Almir Rrapo was arrested by the Albanian National Police on July 2 at the request of the United States. They said he was the senior administrative assistant to the deputy prime minister of Albania. He was charged in a prosecution that has also been brought against 16 others.

Ten of those co-defendants were arrested in June as part of the FBI’s attempts to dismantle the so-called Krasniqi Organization. The FBI notes:

The Krasniqi Organization sought to enrich its members through various criminal schemes, including the trafficking of more than 1,500 pounds of marijuana, and used firearms and violence to protect its power and territory, as well as to instill fear among rival drug dealers and victims.

Rrapo is alleged to have taken part in one drive-by shooting murder and in the kidnapping and terrorizing of a rival drugs-gang leader. The release, however, doesn’t make clear how Rrapo’s position in the Albanian government may have aided the work of the gang.

Bulgaria arrests three in VAT operation

At least three people were arrested last week in a Bulgarian police operation targeting those who allegedly defrauded Bulgaria’s value-added-tax (VAT) agency. The Sofia Echo had more:

The operation, named the VAT Drainers, followed an investigation by special teams that studied alleged abuses involving transport deals and fraudulent transactions supposedly involving consulting services.

The authorities have had their eye on tax dodgers for much of August. The National Revenue Agency (NRA) dismissed half a dozen employees earlier for allegedly giving 2.5 million leva ($1.6 million) worth of illegal VAT refunds. Sixty NRA employees have been sacked since the beginning of the year for various such derelictions, the agency told the Echo.

Meanwhile, the agency is cracking down on popular beach resorts on the Black Sea coast, and discovering that establishments there are evading more than 1.5 million leva in taxes. In July, a time when the entire coast is heaving with people, state agency Novinite reported that one beach club did not declare a cent in revenues. No word on what the punishment for proven tax evaders will be.

Italy

An alleged ‘Ndrangheta-laid parcel bomb damaged a Calabrian prosecutor’s apartment building last week, but prosecutor Salvatore Di Landro was unharmed in the explosion. The bomb, which shattered windows and shredded a door, is likely the latest lash-out from the Calabria-based crime group, which has been the focus of an increased crackdown by the authorities. The ‘Ndrangheta traffics South American cocaine throughout Europe and is thought to have overtaken La Cosa Nostra in terms of revenues and control over markets.