Retail mafia ripping off Serbia Aug 22, 2010 A retail cartel is holding Serbia grip by having the country export less and import more so that the retailers can rip off Serbian consumers by jacking up prices they pay for ordinary goods. A study conducted by a German think tank, the Friedrich-Ebert Foundation, found that the Serbian retail mafia that got rich by pushing Milosevic to have the western powers impose sanctions on Serbia so they can charge higher prices, are still controlling the Serbian economic policy and are foisting inflated prices on the countryâs consumers.
The study has concluded that the Serbian retail mafia is ripping off Serbians by controlling import licenses which jacks up prices and puts off foreign investment. Earlier in the year, a retailer in Serbia demanded that Serbia spend all its savings on controlling the value of the currency so that he can make âadequateâ amount of profit. Other retailers, individuals that produce nothing but make money by selling goods for higher prices then they can buy them for, also demanded that the Serbian central bank intervene so that they can make money during the period when the Euro was falling precipitously. Owner of Komtrade, Veselin Jevrosimovic, demanded that Serbia impose a fixed exchange rate on the domestic currency because he is not making enough profit from his trading. The German foundation also found that certain individuals control too vast of the amount of retail space in Belgrade which allows them to extort monopoly money from others. The so-called retail mafia emerged in Serbia during the Milosevic era when a cohort of rich men got special favors from Slobodan Milosevic who got himself engaged in wars he never intended to win. This cohort eventually dictated Milosevicâs policy because they controlled the amount of revenue he got from granting them financial favors. Bogoljub Karic, the "oligarch" born in Serbian Kosovo with interests in Toronto, is part of the Karic family that was anointed by Milosevic. Employees of these rich âoligarchsâ also executed one of the worldâs largest organized state swindles of wealth by having Milosevic approve their men to sell unlimited amounts of Serbian currency on the streets for any price for any western money. As a result, Serbia experienced a hyperinflation in the 1990s that ranks in the top 5 episodes as the worst ones in human history. This âretail mafiaâ also encouraged Milosevic to prolong wars or to have the West impose draconian economic sanctions on Serbia so that they could sell their products for more money to the ethnic Serbs put under sanctions. The retail mafia often argued that the misery and high prices that ordinary Serbs are paying are for reasons of patriotism. âOne could describe [the retail mafia] as war profiteers,â says Michael Ehrke of the Belgrade bureau of the Friedrich-Ebert Foundation. âThose who profit during a war are also interested in war itself. One could describe them as persons who certainly did nothing to stop this war,â said Ehrke for the Deutsche Welle. The retail mafia also pushed Milosevic to deliberately take on the debt of the collapsed Yugoslavia advising him to default on it later while they bought much of the debt paper themselves hoping that once Milosevic is gotten rid of the retail mafia can make a killing on the paper they bought. Serbiaâs President Tadic recently talked about âindecent wealthâ that some people have acquired in Serbia but it is yet to be seen what he will do about it. Tadic also warned against the âunnecessary general persecution of rich people.â August 22, 2010 SERBIANNA
