Jezdimir Vasiljević

Jezdimir Vasiljević (born in Topolovnik, People's Republic of Serbia, Yugoslavia in November 1948), nicknamed Gazda Jezda ("Jezda the Boss"), is a controversial Serbian businessman. According to some sources, his initial investment capital was made through a marriage with a Swedish woman from a wealthy family.^[1] In 1992, he established the Jugoskandik Savings Bank, the first privately owned bank in Serbia (which was, at the time, still a republic within Yugoslavia). Although Jugoskandik operated in Serbia, the banking license was provided by Banka Privatne Privrede (BPP), bank owned by the local government of Montenegro (another republic within Yugoslavia). He unsuccessfully ran for President of Serbia on the 1992 elections.

Vasiljević also organized and sponsored the 1992 match between Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky, which took place in the exclusive resort of Sveti Stefan and drew significant media attention both in Yugoslavia and abroad. Since Yugoslavia was under UN sanctions at the time, participation at the match has caused Bobby Fischer legal trouble and practically forced him to live as an émigré.^[2]

Jugoskandik itself was merely a front for a pyramid scheme. The obtained money was used to bypass internationally-imposed sanctions and import oil into Yugoslavia via Montenegrin seaports. The oil was later sold within Yugoslavia (mostly in Serbia), and Jugoskandik savers were paid off from the profit. According to Vasiljević's own words, at the request of BPP's CEO Milorad Vukotić, some 62,000 tons of oil were confiscated from the Montenegrin repositories in Bar and Kotor, a move which marked the end of Jugoskandik. The Jugoskandik collapse, together with the almost simultaneous collapse of another pyramidal bank, Dafiment, represented a disastrous blow to the Serbian economy, already weakened by the Yugoslav Wars. Estimated 80,000 people have been left without their money.^[3] Vasiljević sued the state of Montenegro in 1993, but without success.^[4] He fled Yugoslavia on the 8th of March 1993.^[5]

Vasiljević made claims that, in early 1993, he supplied the Serbian side in the Yugoslav wars with a "Hertz-machine", allegedly a machine which kills people via phone by emitting strong frequencies.^[6][7] Such claims were almost immediately debunked by the Serbian media.

In 2001, Vasiljević and the PBB's ex-CEO were charged separately for embezzlement. In 2004, Vasiljević's trial began in front of the Serbian court of law; he escaped to the Netherlands, where he was arrested and extradited to Serbia.^[8] He was sentenced to five years of prison.^[9]

In 2013, Vasiljević entered the popular reality show "Farma", but was kicked off due to low votes.^[10]

References

• R. T. Naylor (1 January 2008). Patriots and Profiteers: Economic Warfare, Embargo Busting, and State-Sponsored Crime. McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP. pp. 361–. ISBN 978-0-7735-7489-2.
• Tim Judah (1 October 2008). The Serbs: History, Myth and the Destruction of Yugoslavia. Yale University Press. pp. 411–. ISBN 978-0-300-14784-1.
• Cvijić, Vuk. Z. (2013-10-22). "Kako se gazda Jezda izvukao: DB ga pustio, policiji pobegao" (in Serbian). Belgrade: Blic Online.

Notes