By Glenn Kessler
Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, December 2, 2000; Page A20
U.S. Treasury investigators have concluded that at least $1 billion was spirited out of Yugoslavia by associates of ousted president Slobodan Milosevic and flowed through banks in Cyprus to other destinations, Yugoslavia's central bank governor told reporters in Belgrade yesterday.
"It is apparently the money which the former regime had transferred to Cyprus in the course of 1990s," central bank governor Mladjan Dinkic said at a news conference. Investigators do not yet know where the money may have ultimately gone.
The new Yugoslav leadership has frequently accused Milosevic and his ruling elite of transferring state funds abroad, but the Treasury investigation has apparently provided the first major evidence of large-scale money transfers.
The investigation, which is about eight months old, involved a detailed examination of bank accounts and internal bank records in Yugoslavia and Cyprus. Both Yugoslav and Cypriot authorities are cooperating in the probe, which is being conducted by Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control.
The office administers and enforces economic and trade sanctions against targeted foreign countries. Until recently it monitored compliance with the sanctions imposed on the Milosevic government by the United States.
Dinkic, a prominent opposition economist during the Milosevic era, this week became central bank governor. "Our aim is that the money, which belongs to the Yugoslav people, is repatriated," he said.
Dinkic indicated that the Yugoslav government would seek technical assistance from Treasury as it seeks the funds.
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