storm - Hrvatski memorijalno-dokumentacijski centar Domovinskog ...

other. Th erefore, the total value of the sold goods was 2,237,000 DM. According to colonel
Zimonja they had paid a total of 50,000 DM for the goods. He gave me that information
when complications arose and they did not know whether they would succeed in selling
the goods to the (ARBiH) 5 th Corps, and added that the SVK had no grounds for making
up the loss if the deal failed (because the goods were “poisoned”).
While separating the DM in new notes (he counted and set apart 37,000 DM) Mišević
was verbally attacked by lieutenant colonel Krković who wanted to know why Mišević
was separating the new notes. Mišević told him that his boss had expressly ordered him
to bring back new notes. Krković said “so what if he is a general, let him too fi nd a place
where he can exchange them, and let him have a part in schillings”. Mišević countered
that it had to be that way. Colonel Zimonja immediately wrote the name of general
Mrkšić 51 on a sheet of paper, folded it, put 37,000 DM into the folded sheet and placed
the lot into his briefcase with the promise that he would deliver the package.
Interestingly enough, Knežević and myself were present during this exchange for the
fi rst time, but they were not embarrassed at all.
In the meantime, while the money was being counted and split, lieutenant colonel
Krković pointed out several times that we should be rewarded as participants in the action
with two to three thousand DM, and that general Mrkšić would approve that. Hearing
Krković’s proposal, Zimonja and Krković fell silent, while I responded immediately by
saying that I did not consider the whole thing to be a trade deal but a “serious mission”,
and that I did not want to be part of it. Lieutenant colonel Knežević supported me, and
we did not mention the proposal any more. Mišević then joined in and said that Knežević
and myself were right and that, if required, he could let a trailer truck through specially
for us and we could then split the proceeds. We turned the off er down a priori.
I drew Mišević aside and talked about the situation. Interestingly enough, that was
my fi rst meeting with the man, and he was very outspoken. He is about 35 years old,
and moves exclusively in high society. He referred to Lilić 52 and Milošević 53 , and said
they knew him. He also mentioned the Serbian Secretariat of International Aff airs and
State Security Service. He said that in his illicit trade he fared best when his deals were
approved by B. 54 Mikelić (about twelve times) and the crossing secured by the Krajina
Ministry of the Interior and State Security Service for Kordun and Banija. Business had
become extremely diffi cult, he remarked, since the army took over the control of the
border. He was intensively involved in this business since 1992, when he started it with
M. 55 Martić, and has changed several bosses in the meantime.
Out of the mentioned foreign currency amount the SVK General Staff will get about
400,000 DM. Th ey did not get it yet because the Deutschmarks were in old notes and were
sent to Belgrade to be exchanged. Aft er that we shall send you the respective records. On
51 Mile
52 Zoran
53 Slobodan
54 Borislav
55 Milan
274