Stanko Subotić

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Stanko "Cane" Subotić (born September 9, 1959 in Kalinovac village near Ub, Serbia, FPR Yugoslavia) is a controversial Geneva-based Serbian businessman, alleged criminal, currently in police custody after being arrested in Moscow at Sheremetyevo International Airport based on an Interpol red notice warrant issued against him by the Serbian police. After being on the run for almost a year, he's awaiting transfer to native Serbia where he's indicted on smuggling and tax fraud charges.

Ranked 86th on the Polish Wprost magazine's 2006 list of richest individuals in Eastern Europe, this weekly publication estimates Subotić's net worth at €650 million.^[1]

His current business endeavours are a diverse mix. Subotić is the founder and owner of the Denmark-based company EMI (Emerging Marketing Investment) and D Trade (based in Belgrade, Serbia), dealing in sales and distribution of wine, paper and real estate. Additionally, he is the co-owner of Serbia-based Futura plus, the leading commercial distribution network in Southeastern Europe. In Serbia, his companies employ over 4,000 people.^{[citation needed]}

Additionaly, Subotić is the co-owner of the meat processing factory Famis LLC (founded in 2002 in Serbia), as well as distribution companies in Greece and Russia dealing in non-alcoholic beverages and sporting equipment. Moreover, he bought hundreds of acres of vineyards in France, which he uses for production of the high-quality wine Louis Max, served even at the White House.^[2]. He began investing in this company in 1989, and since January 2007 he is the sole owner of Max Holding.

Subotić also owns a wine cellar in downtown Belgrade and a luxury hotel named Villa Montenegro on the Sveti Stefan island. In March 2007, this hotel was awarded the "Five Stars Diamond" award for the quality of service by the American Academy of Hospitality Sciences.

In the 2003 Serbian police investigation codenamed "Mreža", he is listed as one of the main cigarette smugglers in the Balkans region.^[2]

He was arrested in Moskva, On April 28th.^[3]

1 Early life and business career...
2 ...and Controversy
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Early life and business career...

Subotić comes from a working class family, to which he was born as the sixth and youngest child. During early childhood, he started working in his father's carpentry shop. A Serbian national by birth, since 1999 Subotić also has a permanent resident status in Switzerland.

He completed the streamlined High School of Economics in Ub where he met his future wife Jagoda. He started earning an independent living in his early twenties when he left for France and got a job as a tailor. Very soon he opened a chain of clothing boutiques, and developed his own wholesale and retail.^{[citation needed]}

During mid-1980s he invested into Serbian economy, by supplying civil engineering equipment which he judged to be in short supply.^{[citation needed]}

Subotić started his private business career in 1991 following the collapse of communism in SFR Yugoslavia by founding a company named MIA and opening a sewing shop that cooperated with state owned retailer Robne kuće Beograd.

From that time until the year 1993, his primary business activities were textile production and confection.

By 1995, he entered cigarette trade in Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, a country under UN imposed trade embargo. Subotić owned two duty free shops at Đeneral Janković border crossing and in 1996 became exclusive distributor of foreign cigarette producers such as Phillip Morris and British American Tobacco, which is how he made his fortune over the coming years. His cigarette trading business was initially based in Serbia, but in spring 1997 after Vlada "Tref" Kovačević (another prominent Serbian cigarette exporter-importer, and also accused smuggler) and Radovan "Badža" Stojičić (Serbian police deputy chief) got murdered, Subotić relocated his entire business to Montenegro and moved there. Once in Montenegro, he established high political and business connections with the republic's Prime Minister Milo Đukanović and ruling DPS party president Svetozar Marović, as well as with Podgorica businessman Duško Ban and national security adviser Goran Žugić.^[4]

In 2003, Subotić opened a subsidiary in Montenegro, which is in operation to this day.

The same year, Subotić acquired the Serbian company Duvan, owner of a large distribution network which included retail booths and kiosks selling printed media and other consumer goods, and founded the company Futura plus. After acquiring Duvan, in 2004. Subotić began his cooperation with the large German media holding Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, which brought him new points of sale as it acquired a majority stake at Politika distribution, so that Futura Plus now owns the largest media distribution network in Serbia with a large number of kiosks and newspaper stands, previously owned by Duvan, Politika distribution, Borba distribution and Duvanpromet from Kragujevac. In Montenegro he founded a company named Montenegro Futura that owns a similar distribution network throughout the country.

In 2005, Subotić moved his business headquarters to Cyprus. During the Spring 2007, Subotić additionally expanded his activities with two large investments in Montenegro: purchasing a piece of St. Nikola island near the port of Budva from the Serbian businessman Nenad Đorđević for approximately €24 million and announcing his plans to build a luxury hotel worth €20 million on the St. Stefan island.^[5]

[edit] ...and Controversy

The allegations and accusations of smuggling, tax evasion, and state budget defrauding in regard to Subotić's activities have been numerous.

[edit] Nacional affair

It all started in May 2001 when Croatian Nacional weekly published detailed accounts of Subotić's allegedly illegal activities claiming they additionally involved many organized crime figures as well as highest echelons of Montenegrin and Serbian regimes. The series of articles caused a huge uproar throughout the entire Balkans region as it named some high-ranking politicians in connection with Subotić's activities, most notably Montenegrin PM Milo Đukanović and even Serbian PM Zoran Đinđić.

Largely unknown and unexposed up to that point, the entire Nacional affair forced Subotić into the public limelight as he began giving occasional interviews in Serbian media. His response to Nacional's allegations was that the articles were complete fabrications paid for and planted by competing Croatian tobacco producer Tvornica duhana Rovinj that supposedly felt threatened by Subotić's plans to jointly build a tobacco factory in Serbia with British American Tobacco in 2001.^[6]

Over the coming years, Subotić filed a series of lawsuits against Nacional and its owner and editor-in-chief Ivo Pukanić in Zagreb court on the grounds of slander and reputation smearing. The outcome of those proceedings is subject to more dispute as Nacional claims that "Subotić lost each one of the 26 lawsuits he filed against the magazine", while Subotić's lawyer Vlado Pavićević claims his client has "at least nine court verdicts in his favour".^[7]

[edit] Insajder interview

In mid 2006, Subotić was hit with a new series of accusations when the findings of "Mreža" investigation conducted by Serbian police during 2003 were obtained by several media outlets, including B92. In it, Subotić's involvement in cigarette trade between 1995 and 1999 is characterized as "smuggling without taxation made possible by high ranking members of Milošević's regime".^[2]

On May 15, 2006, Subotić's taped interview with journalist Brankica Stanković was aired on B92's Insajder programme. In it he claimed to have been shown the results of "Mreža" investigation way back in 2003 by Serbian Interior Minister at the time - Dušan Mihajlović. Subotić also added that Mihajlović reassured him on the same occasion that he (Subotić) is not in any way subject of investigation as according to what Subotić said Mihajlović told him that time in 2003: "your (Subotić's) business activities during the 1990s were found to be legit".

[edit] 'Mreža' arrests and Interpol arrest warrant

Then on June 6, 2007, Serbian police arrested eight individuals, which it believes were part of a 15 person criminal group organized by Subotić. Subotić himself was not placed under arrest that day, because the police could not find him, however, an Interpol arrest warrant was later issued for him. The arrested individuals were placed in a 48-hour detention, and they include:

Milan Popivoda, former chief of Novi Sad state security branch
Miodrag Zavišić, former chief of Novi Sad police department
Nebojša "Tarzan" Nikolić and Drage Dodeski, former federal customs bureau employees
Milan "Mrgud" Milanović, former employee of different federal bodies and a prominent member of Škorpioni paramilitary unit. Since 2002 co-owner of Famis d.o.o. meat factory with Subotić^[8]
Milan "Pekin" Ranković, an employee in Subotić's MIA company
Ivana Olujić, accused of acting as a proxy in cigarette smuggling
Miroslav "Miki" Pešić, accused of making payments on behalf of Subotić's MIA company.

On the same day, Serbian Ministry of the Interior (MUP) issued a press release saying: "These arrests occurred following a detailed and thorough investigation taking place over several years in cooperation with special persecutor's office in regard to "Mreža" investigation. Subotić's group is being accused of illegally importing cigarettes and selling them on the black market. By doing so they defrauded the state budget of DM80 million in unpaid tax. The money thay made in Serbia was transferred to their accounts in Cyprus via Montenegro and Macedonia".^[9]

In addition to Subotić, six other individuals were sought by police on the same occasion: Ivan Krčmaričić, Đorđe Subotić, Luka Nenadić, Jovica Ranđelović, Stevan Banović, and Nikola Milošević (Subotić's nephew).

Subotić eventually responded to the charges on June 26, 2007 through a vaguely worded press release he forwarded to Montenegrin state news agency MINA. Speaking from an undisclosed location, he claimed innocence adding he did business in line with widely used practices at the time. He furthermore said: "The goal of this thing that's started by Belgrade is to smear my reputation in front of my business partners in Serbia and rest of Europe, but still, I'm not the main target. This will turn into one more attack on Montenegro by those that are pathologically obsessed with its independence, like they were with Đinđić all until his death". Subotić's release then suddenly turns to Montenegrin opposition leader Nebojša Medojević, accusing him of insinuations and of "writing newspaper columns that helped create the atmosphere for the murder of Zoran Đinđić". Subotić concluded by saying: "Medojević and Vojislav Koštunica are working on satanization of the Montenegrin state by creating an impression of its supposed criminalization".^[10]