![\"Rodoljub](\"https:\/\/www.krik.rs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Rodoljub-Radulovic.jpg\")
<\/a>Rodoljub Radulovi\u0107<\/p><\/div>\n
Radulovi\u0107 kept another secret. Investigators and prosecutors in Greece, South America and elsewhere are or have investigated Radulovi\u0107 and fugitive drug trafficker Darko \u0160ari\u0107 as leaders of a sprawling and lucrative cocaine cartel , according to investigative records obtained by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP). \u0160ari\u0107 who was indicted in Belgrade in 2010 and remains a fugitive, and Radulovi\u0107, who has been charged in Greece but nowhere else, could not be reached for comment.<\/p>\n
Today, two of his Balkan business partners are dead. One was a drug middleman shot to death in broad daylight in a Montenegrin caf\u00e9, the other committed suicide under crushing debt. Radulovi\u0107\u2019s whereabouts are unknown. An OCCRP investigation of court documents, police reports, investigative filings and property records from five countries reveals Radulovi\u0107 \u2019s alleged drug activities were happening as he built connections with several prominent people, including:<\/p>\n
- \n
- Milomir Joksimovi\u0107, owner of more than 100 companies and friend of imprisoned mob leader Joca Amsterdam<\/li>\n
- Bogdan Rodi\u0107, part of a retail dynasty who is a partner of Radulovi\u0107 in a \u20ac1.2 million building in the town of Pan\u010devo<\/li>\n
- Dragan Dudi\u0107, accused drug trafficker and the owner of Port Risan, a seaport near Kotor in Montenegro.<\/li>\n
- Radulovi\u0107 turned virtually all of his assets over to Dudi\u0107 in 2006, and Dudi\u0107 was gunned down four years later<\/li>\n
- Maksut \u0106atovi\u0107, who produced many famous Serbian movies including \u2018\u2019Underground.\u2019\u2019 He also brought stars such as Luciano Pavarotti, Madonna, Sting, Metalica and AC\/DC to play in Belgrade<\/li>\n
- Milan Zukanovi\u0107, who operated real estate and construction businesses for two decades until last month when he shot himself in the head<\/li>\n
- Slavko Despot, an exclusive importer of Cuban cigars<\/li>\n
- Andrija Krlovi\u0107, \u0160ari\u0107\u2019s lawyer who was indicted last year forf money laundering<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
![\"Shematski](\"https:\/\/www.krik.rs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Balkan_partnerships_scheme_OCCRP_full.jpg\")
<\/a>Balkan partnerships scheme<\/p><\/div>\n
Tennis and TV production<\/strong><\/p>\n
Rodoljub Radulovi\u0107 loved tennis, one of his business partners said in an interview with OCCRP, and spent much time playing at the Koling Sport Center. It became a place not only for fitness, but for networking and showing off. He presented himself as a rich businessman from the U.S., talked about owning a big construction company in Russia and generally schmoozed with Belgrade\u2019s elite at the club.<\/p>\n
He could often be seen with the famous Serbian singer Ana Nikoli\u0107, friends and partners said.<\/p>\n
By the time he sat down with \u0106atovi\u0107 and Zukanovi\u0107 in 2003, Radulovi\u0107 \u2019s American businesses were in ruin. Records show that just four months earlier \u2013 on April 14, 2003 \u2013lawyers for a Moscow company which won a $12.1 million fraud judgment against him, were in a Miami court asking for another $627,000 to cover their costs of suing him. His houses were in foreclosure, and he had earlier been fined nearly $2 million for an unrelated fraud in the U.S. state of Nevada.<\/p>\n
Those details never came up during the meeting.<\/p>\n
Instead, producer \u0106atovi\u0107 and Zukanovi\u0107, who owned the sport center and one of biggest construction and real estate agencies in Serbia (Koling, http:\/\/www.koling.rs\/index-en.html), decided to invest with him. They named their new venture Tri Em Invest , and opened offices on Kron\u0161tanska 5 in Belgrade, a building owned by Zukanovi\u0107\u2019s agency Koling.<\/p>\n
![\"Maksut](\"https:\/\/www.krik.rs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Maksut-Catovic.jpg\")
<\/a>Maksut \u0106atovi\u0107<\/p><\/div>\n
“We all knew each other very well before we established the company”, said \u0106atovi\u0107, “If you didn\u2019t know Radulovi\u0107 already had experience in that business – he was bringing Americans here to make movies (even) before the 90s, in the former Yugoslavia.”<\/p>\n
But, just 15 months later Radulovi\u0107\u2019s partners left the company, business records show . Radulovi\u0107 finally closed it down in August, 2009 , and there is no record it ever made a single movie.<\/p>\n
\u0106atovi\u0107 told OCCRP the partnership was dissolved because of differing opinions on how best to run the company. He also said that Radulovi\u0107 owed money to Zukanovi\u0107, who began building his friend a villa in Dedinje, but wasn\u2019t paid in return. \u2018\u2019It was not big money since the villa was never finished,\u201d said \u0106atovi\u0107. The debt didn\u2019t come between the men, who remained friends, he said. Zukanovi\u0107, who was facing large debts in his construction and real estate businesses, was found shot in the head at one of his construction sites. Police ruled the death a suicide according to Tanjug, the state wire service.<\/p>\n
\u0106atovi\u0107 said he hasn\u2019t seen Radulovi\u0107 in many years and is shocked to hear\u00a0that he has connections to \u0160ari\u0107 and drug dealing.<\/p>\n
To \u0106atovi\u0107, Radulovi\u0107 seemed to make his money mostly from importing bananas to Serbia, not cocaine.<\/p>\n
![\"Construction](\"https:\/\/www.krik.rs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/construction_site-300x200.jpg\")
<\/a>Construction site where Milan Zukanovic committed suicide<\/p><\/div>\n
\u201cHe explained to me how the bananas are green when they are picked and sent on their journey, and then while traveling they ripen,\u201d\u201c \u0106atovi\u0107 remembers.<\/p>\n
Importing bananas, among other things<\/strong><\/p>\n
It seems Radulovi\u0107 was much better in transoceanic shipments than he was at developing movie projects.<\/p>\n
Radulovi\u0107 formed relationship with an Ecuadorian company that is one of the world\u2019s largest producers of bananas and pineapples, and in 2002 he established the company Bana King in Serbia to ship and sell produce, according to business partners and company records. The deal boosted Radulovi\u0107 \u2019s reputation in Serbian business circles.<\/p>\n
Radulovi\u0107 established Bana King with two prominent Serbs, Milomir Joksimovi\u0107, known as Mi\u0161a Omega, and Slavko Despot, a leading importer of Cuban cigars, business registry records show.<\/p>\n
![\""Bana](\"https:\/\/www.krik.rs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/BANA-KING-box-300x189.jpg\")
<\/a>“Bana King\u201c box<\/p><\/div>\n
Joksimovi\u0107 claimed in an interview with the magazine NIN that he has some ownership share in more than 100 companies , and a search of Serbian business registry records showed dozens connected to him. Many were bought through privatization in 2004. At least two were rescinded in January of 2010 because he didn\u2019t honor the agreements or pay the full amount of money, according to the website for the state agency for privatization.<\/p>\n
Joksimovi\u0107 was also a friend to feared and brutal crime figure Sreten Joci\u0107, aka Joca Amsterdam, and was a guest on Joci\u0107\u2019s 45th birthday on Oct. 27, 2007, according to 2009 testimony at Joci\u0107\u2019s trial in Belgrade. Joci\u0107 is in jail for ordering a murder and is awaiting trial for the assassination of Croatian journalist Ivo Pukani\u0107.<\/p>\n
Slavko Despot, Radulovi\u0107\u2019s other partner in Bana King, is the owner of Julieta, one of Serbia\u2019s largest importers of Cuban cigars, and owns Casa de Habano in Serbia and Bosnia and Julieta, a restaurant in Belgrade. Julieta Company is owned by the offshore company Alpha Management Consultants LLC based in Delaware , which is owned by Despot who also has power of attorney over it.<\/p>\n
As with Tri-Em Invest, Radulovi\u0107 \u2019s partners didn\u2019t last long, both leaving in December, 2002 . Radulovi\u0107 stayed until closing it in late 2006.<\/p>\n
![\"Milomir](\"https:\/\/www.krik.rs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/Milomir-Joksimovic.jpg\")
<\/a>Milomir Joksimovi\u0107<\/p><\/div>\n
Joksimovi\u0107 couldn\u2019t be reached for comment. OCCRP called Despot repeatedly,\u00a0and one of his assistants finally said that Despot would have no comment.<\/p>\n
Before Bana King, Radulovi\u0107 had established his Balkans shipping credentials more than 40 years earlier, back in the former Yugoslavia, according to old business archives uncovered by OCCRP. Old, frayed and eaten by mice, the documents from Belgrade\u2019s commercial court shows that Radulovi\u0107 served as a department head in the state company Hempro from the late 1970s to early 1980s . The company was engaged in importing and exporting worldwide, and had branches in Moscow, Berlin, Pakistan and elsewhere.<\/p>\n
Although he left Yugoslavia around 1983 and set up companies in Austria, Italy, Russia and the East, Radulovi\u0107 had no trouble returning back home to Serbia and his shipping roots around 2002, friends and associates said.<\/p>\n
No place like home<\/strong><\/p>\n
While Radulovi\u0107 \u2019s Serbian dealings were mixed, he had much better success in his hometown of Kotor in Montenegro, where he appears to be one of the leading businessmen.<\/p>\n
His company Trecom manages large tracts of land in the historic old town in Kotor including a hotel and casino. Kotor, an ancient Roman and Byzantine settlement that was rebuilt into a walled city during four centuries of Venetian rules, is protected by UNESCO as a place of great historical value.<\/p>\n
Documents show that Trecom was founded in 1989. The next year the company made lucrative deals with the municipality of Kotor and leased seven locations in the historical old town, including parts of the ancient fortress. During the war years of the 990s, the company was got more favorable treatment when it was exempted from payment of rent. Contracts, on behalf of Trecom, were signed by Rodoljub\u2019s brother \u017darko Radulovi\u0107, the company\u2019s director.<\/p>\n