The murder of Ivo Pukanić as in mafia movies: They convicted the perpetrators, they are not looking for the people who commissioned them

In the very center of Zagreb, in Stara Vlaška, in the yard in front of the headquarters of the weekly newspaper Nacional, on this day in 2008, they were killed Ivo Pukanić and the head of marketing of Nacional Niko Franjić. They were killed by a car bomb at 18:22. as they approached Pukanić’s Lexus, each from their own side. A moment before they got into the car, a powerful explosion rang out, killing both of them on the spot. The killer managed to escape.

The cold-blooded murder of the founder of Nacional and his colleague shook Croatia, and many rightly wondered if they were living in a city that was actually run by the mafia.

Photo: Dalibor Urukalovic/PIXSELL

A large action called ‘Balkan Express’ was immediately launched and soon it was determined who was responsible for the murder. Željko Milovanović (42) who planted the bomb, and Robert Matani, Bojan Guduri, Luka Matani, Amir Mafalani and Slobodan Đurovi were also arrested. They all participated in the organization of the murder.

Milovanovi, who was a member of the Legion’s ‘Red Berets’ during the Homeland War, was arrested in Belgrade after eight months on the run. Bojan Gudurić was the last to be caught, he surrendered in Banja Luka, just a day before the start of the trial for Pukani’s murder. It was suspected that he was the sniper who was supposed to kill Pukani in the case of an unsuccessful assassination attempt.

murder |

Photo: Tomislav Miletic/PIXSELL/illustration

The perpetrators were convicted, but no one is looking for the perpetrators of the murder

Milovanovi, who was never extradited to Croatia, as the immediate executor received a prison sentence of 40 years. Later, the Appellate Court in Belgrade sentenced him to 40 years in prison. Gudurić was sentenced to 33 years in prison as a sniper, and Luka Matanić and Amir Mafalani were sentenced to 16 years in prison in an earlier verdict. Robert Matanić he was sentenced to 35 years in prison as the organizer of the group that carried out the assassination.

Slobodan Đurović was first given 25 years, but later the court reduced his sentence to 23 years. He was convicted of incitement to self-interested murder.

Marko Lukunic/PIXSELL |

Photo: Marko Lukunic/PIXSELL

Happy Jocić aka Joca Amsterdam, is accused of having organized the murder of the owner of Nacional for the price of one and a half million euros, from an as yet unknown client. But after four years of trial, in April 2014 he was acquitted of the charges.

Thus, the perpetrators of the murder were arrested and sentenced, but it was never found out who the perpetrators were. Berislav Jelini, editor-in-chief of Nacional and Pukani’s associate told us that in such cases it is difficult to find the orderers, but that our institutions have given up further investigation.

Jurica Galoić/PIXSELL |

Photo: Jurica Galoi/PIXSELL/FACEBOOK

The killers had been preparing the assassination for months

– There is no reason to give up – emphasized Jelini. Like Uskok, he first suspected the tobacco mafia, but as the orderer, no one was ever suspected. The killers had been following Pukani for months in Zagreb and preparing the assassination.

– This could have happened either because there were dilettantes at the head of the intelligence service, or because one of them deliberately turned his head. Let the public judge which is more devastating for the country. Tomislav Karamarko was at the head of the service then – said Jelini. and adds that there were also omissions in the work of the police, because it was precisely reconstructed who was in the police and how they came to serious indications that the assassination was being prepared.

– Untoč therefore, they removed his protection, and then the identity of those “authorities” was hidden. Shame on them. However, when it is taken into account that Karamarko then became the Minister of the Interior, such an ignorant attitude towards those in charge within the police is not surprising – concluded Jelini.

Money through a Bulgarian company?

The Croatian Prosecutor’s Office received information from Montenegrin colleagues about how Đurović three weeks before the murder, he received 780,000 euros to his account in Montenegro. They believed that the money was used to pay some of the participants in the murder. The payment came from the company General Pioneer, registered in the British Virgin Islands. Who was behind General Pioneer remained a secret, it was written at the end of 2023. According to the portal Oštro, documents from Cyprus Confidential revealed that behind the company that paid money to Đurović for, it is suspected, Pukanić’s murder is a Bulgarian businessman, who was claimed to be a member of the intelligence service.

The investigation created as part of a global journalistic project led by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and Paper Trail Media now reveals, according to Oštro, that the owner of General Pioneer is the unknown Bulgarian entrepreneur Ognian Bozarov. Documents leaked from the Cypriot corporate service provider MeritServus showed that General Pioneer sent 255,000 euros to Đurovi a few months before the payment of 780,000 euros. There is no indication that Bozarov ordered or had any role in the assassination of Pukani, but documents from Cyprus Confidential and court records provide a new clue related to the joint business between Dstrokov and Bozarov, which preceded the murders. .

Ognian Bozarov, a largely unknown Bulgarian businessman who is said to be a former member of the intelligence service, had been doing business with Đurov for at least a year before the murder. The documents show that they collaborated on a real estate business in Belgrade. Đurović was also employed in Bozarov’s company in Serbia, but he left it three days before the murder. According to leaked emails, the €780,000 payment was described as “very urgent”. In a written statement to OCCRP, Bozarov replied that “he certainly did not order (Pukani’s) murder”, that he never threatened anyone or threatened anyone’s life, and that all payments related to his companies were from “č also for business reasons”.

– We can neither deny nor confirm the information regarding your questions – answered last year from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Oštra to the question whether they investigated the ownership of the company from the British Virgin Islands and whether the investigation into the customers is still ongoing. murders. V