He is a political reformer who currently lives in exile. The only politician who said “no” to Milosevic two times. He helped the release of three U.S. soldiers captured in Kosovo during the bombing and he was a target of twice attempted assassination in January 2006.
If you are wondering who is described in this very exciting biography, the answer can be obtained from the U.S. Department of Justice, where Karic’s biography has been polished for the needs of the campaign “Spreading the truth about the persecuted businessman”, prepared by lobbying organization “Alcaide & Fay” and paid by Bogoljub’s wife Milanka for as much as $ 350,000!
Working with political consultants in the U.S. is serious business – according to recent data, currently there are around 1,700 active lobbyists representing interests of the representatives of one hundred states. In order to prevent the misuse (i.e. anti-state activities and spying) in 1938. the U.S. Congress passed a special law known by the acronym FARA, which compels all lobbyists to a detailed report to the Ministry of Justice on their activities twice a year – with whom they made arrangements, how much money they took and for which purposes, what were their activities, success and failures. With a little knowledge and persistence it is possible to obtain all the information that lobbyists and their business partners would eagerly like to keep away from public eyes.
A simple search we conducted has revealed that Karic family used the services of American consultants four times – the first time in1995, then in 1996, next in 2003, and finally in 2009/2010. The analysis of documents clearly shows the development (and failure) of the business dynasty Karic, as well as the development of the events in Serbia.
It all started rather enthusiastically and optimistically – in March 1995. Bogoljub Karic (who was introduced as a Serb in the process of obtaining Canadian citizenship) signed a contract with a lobbyist Richard Schechter who was supposed to “help him meet various members of Congress, other government officials and the members of business, financial and media communities.” During that time, Karic obviously had a pretty high opinion of himself, so he believed the contractual obligation of lobbyists according to which they will ensure his appearance in Larry King’s show on CNN, the meetings with President Bill Clinton, congressmen Robert Dole and Newt Gingrich, the Secretary of State Warren Christopher and the U.S. Secretary of Commerce Mickey Cantor. Of course, the subsequent reports of the lobbyists indicated that these meetings never took place as all these respondents were unable to attend for various reasons.
The last contract from 2009/2010, this time with the agency “Alcaide & Fay,” deals with another kind of “Karic Brothers” company. There is no more egocentrism and desire to meet people from high society. There is only one goal: to clean up the image of Bogoljub Karic and with the help of U.S. pressure enable his return to Serbia – but without a trial for a number of financial frauds, which is why he is on the Interpol list.
It could be interesting to take a closer look into the contract from April 2009. which Bogoljub’s wife Milanka Karic signed on his behalf. The reason for signing the contract is stated in the very beginning, “Alcaide & Fay” were hired to help Milanka Karic, Bogoljub Karic and Dragomir Karic in the fight for freedom of speech, human rights and promotion of healthy economy: advocating the independence of the judiciary and further political stability and democratic reforms”.
The second point of the agreement states the responsibilities of the signed parties and it says that Karic family “will provide evidence of violations of various anti-democratic rights in Serbia in order to engage the U.S. in support of pro-democracy movement. This party aspires to fully educate the American officials about the political situation in the region.” Karic family has no secrets about their main threat – the most responsible for their sufferings is “the current government led by Serbian President Boris Tadic, leader of the Democratic Party.”
As stated in the contract: The process of “improving the image of Bogoljub and Dragomir Karic and their pro-Western profile” requires certain amount of money. In this case it is $ 25,000 per month, plus an allowance to cover international phone calls, postage, taxi rides… The Ministry of Justice has received payment statements which show that Milanka Karic had a total of 10 bank transfers in one year and transferred 350,651 dollar.
What are the results? It could be said – very thin. During the first six months, the agency tried to arrange 15 meetings with various representatives of the U.S. administration on Karic’s behalf, of which 13 were not interested – including Dan Burton, co-chairman of the Serbian Caucus in the U.S. Congress and Senator Richard Lugar the principal Albanian lobbyist. The remaining two minor officials were submitted a polished biography of Bogoljub Karic.
American lobbyists were also unsuccessful in the second task received from Karic family and that is to grant U.S. visa for Milanka Karic and legal U.S. residence status to Bogoljub.
The only thing in which the agency has been successful is to make the Democratic congresswoman Corinne Brown, who is the mother of one of the agency owners, one of the winners of Karic Foundation Humanitarian Award. Brown’s expenses to travel to Belgrade cost Karic 6.427 dollars, plus a diamond medal, a diploma and a check (both the congresswoman and Karic Foundation refused to disclose the amount on the check). Corinne Brown delivered a lecture in Belgrade on the subject of “Fast lines in America” (by the way, there are no fast lines in the U.S.), and upon her return from Belgrade she was obliged to perform a detailed report on her journey that many rated as – immoral.
Of course, this scandal is nothing compared to the one from 2003. when it was revealed that Karic family paid Karen Weldon’s company from Philadelphia 240,000 dollars “to promote its successful operations,” which was quite a shock for the local public when it was disclosed that the owner of the agency is actually the daughter of an influential U.S. Republican Kurt Weldon who had leading role in Washington in regards to businesses in the former Eastern bloc. Weldon was one of the few U.S. officials who supported the efforts of Dragomir and Bogoljub to obtain visas from the U.S. State Department that is still refusing them entry.
Members of the intelligence services have warned Weldon that the brothers were too close to Slobodan Milosevic, but the congressman praised them as exemplary leading businessmen and aid workers. He presented them as victims of false intelligence reports and repeatedly pressured the State Department to issue them visas. No need to say it was unsuccessful.
Intelligence created the profile
The acquaintance of Karic and Weldon dates back to spring of 1999. when the congressman and a group of Russian and American officials gathered in Vienna and, with the assistance of Dragomir Karic, tried to find a solution for ending the conflict between NATO and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. At the end of 2002, Kurt Weldon testified to Congress that two weeks after the bombing he began receiving messages from the Russian Duma deputies, with whom he was on good terms, asking members of Congress for help in stopping the war in the Balkans and listing the people who would come from Moscow to Vienna to negotiate. The list had one name that Weldon was not familiar with – Dragomir Karic. Before he took the trip, the congressman wanted to find out more and called CIA Director George Tenet who called him back the next day and said only two or three sentences about Karic. Weldon was not satisfied with what he heard and without the knowledge of people from the CIA and the FBI he went to a military intelligence center. The experts of the center made the profile of Dragomir Karic in eight densely typed pages which revealed that Karic family was very close to Milosevic. Weldon went to negotiations in Vienna with this information.
The congressman admitted that the negotiations with Russians were difficult, but they eventually signed a deal which guaranteed to end the war. During the entire negotiations, Karic was in telephone contact with Milosevic, who welcomed the results. But then U.S. administration took over and declined the results of the negotiations, claiming that Milosevic should not be trusted, that it was just another of his tricks and that they should not go to Belgrade.
The dressed-up biography
This is how the consulting firm “Alcaide & Fay” presented Bogoljub Karic:
“Bogoljub Karic is a Serbian businessman, entrepreneur and political reformer who now lives in exile. He is exposed to threats of the current government led by Serbian President Boris Tadic, leader of the Democratic Party…
During 1996, he announced his intention to run for president as an opponent of Slobodan Milosevic, advocating democratic changes and capitalist future of Serbia. Serbian authorities immediately reacted by shutting down repeaters of BK Television, the only national TV station that reported on three months long demonstrations against the Milosevic regime. As a result of these pressures and threats to his life, Mr. Karic ultimately decided not to run. Three years later, Mr. Karic was elected by the Milosevic regime to become economy minister without portfolio. At that time, the regime claimed that it was ready for the reforms. However, Mr. Karic split up with Milosevic’s regime and resigned several months later when it became clear that Milosevic had no genuine intentions to reform institutions.
In 2004, Karic again decided to run for president and won 18.2 percent of the votes. In the second round he gave his support to Boris Tadic. Due to this step, Boris Tadic won the elections. As soon as Tadic became the president, his administration began raising unfounded charges against Mr. Karic and his family. During this time Karic’s property was confiscated and his companies destroyed. After two attempts to assassinate him, Karic decided to seek safety in exile.
The goal of Mr. Karic is to be allowed to return to Serbia and to participate in civic life without any restrictions. An important step would be that the U.S. announce that accusations against Karic were politically motivated and request for him to be allowed to travel to Serbia and wash his name.”