Sunday Times (London) August 11, 2002, Sunday
Overseas News
Bosnia expels executives in sex traffic scandal
BY: Maurice Chittenden
TWO executives working for KPMG, one of the world's biggest
accounting
firms, have been expelled from Bosnia over an alleged sex trafficking
scandal. One was allegedly importing prostitutes to Sarajevo claiming
that they were his girlfriends. The other was accused of turning a
blind eye to the activities. The men, both Americans, were expelled
after a British-based banker working on the same project to help
Bosnian banks to manage their assets complained to the US State
Department.
A videotape recording was obtained of one of the executives using a
USAID agency car to collect prostitutes from Sarajevo airport after
they had flown in from Romania and Slovakia. The car's Sfor badges,
indicating it was part of the Nato-led stabilisation force, gave it
diplomatic status.
The prostitutes were paid up to Pounds 500 a day. Some are said later
to have used the same car to lure girls from a Muslim high school in
Sarajevo into prostitution on the pretext of helping them start
"modelling careers".
After an inquiry by a criminal investigator, the American ambassador
ordered the executives to return to the United States and they have
since left the company. The British whistleblower, who has asked not
to be named for fear of losing contracts, said last week: "The
Americans were behaving as if it was Vietnam all over again."
It is the second scandal involving aid workers and the use of
prostitutes in Bosnia. Last week Kathryn Bolkovac, a policewoman from
Nebraska, won an industrial tribunal case against being demoted and
removed from frontline policing in Bosnia after she revealed that
women and teenagers forced into prostitution were being abused by
United Nations police officers who were employed to protect them.
At least 13 employees of DynCorp, an American recruitment agency,
have
been sent home for prostitution-related activities.
USAID is facing an industrial tribunal in Sarajevo in the latest
case,
after the driver used by the KPMG executives was dismissed when he
complained about what he was asked to do.
The driver, Edin Zundo, a former Bosnian amateur boxing champion,
said
one of the executives trawled the internet for prostitutes and then
hired them to come to Bosnia.
"He kidded me they were his girlfriends but I realised what was going
on when he didn't even recognise them at the airport," said Zundo.
KPMG Consulting in Washington said: "The request (for the two to
leave) came before the investigation was complete. We were informed
by
the authorities that none of the allegations was substantiated."
Additional reporting: Philippe Deprez in Sarajevo
Copyright 2002 Times Newspapers Limited
Serbian News Network - SNN
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