AFP. 26 January 2002. New York Times unaware of any lawsuit from Milosevic's wife.
WASHINGTON -- Mira Markovic will sue the Times for reporting a claim that the former Yugoslav president's family looted the country of 10 billion dollars, the Blic daily of Belgrade reported Saturday. The New York Times had no comment on the report, according to Christine Mohan, a spokeswoman. "We are not aware of a lawsuit and we have not been served any papers in conjunction with this issue," she said. In an January 20 article in its Sunday magazine section, correspondent Blaine Harden quoted the director of the Serbian Public Revenue Agency as saying Milosevic's family "probably stole more than ten billion." Milosevic stole money to pay for his wars and prop up his power base, while Markovic stole money "to get rich, rich, rich," the article said, quoting and paraphrasing the official, Alexander K. Radovic. The Times, which interviewed Markovic, quoted her as saying: "We don't have money ... Maybe we would have had some money if we would have cared for that." "Instead of an agreed interview, the journalist published it shorter, adding loathsome comments," Momo Raicevic, a lawyer for Markovic, told the Blic daily. "We are in contact with American lawyers so let the New York Times prove authenticity of its claims in court," he was quoted as saying. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barry Stoller http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ProletarianNews