Prologue

Mr. Zoran Markovic launched Bel Pagette following a chance meeting at a fitness club in Toronto in 1989 with Jake Liem, an accountant. Markovic, a bombastic man with a penetrating gaze, told Liem about his dream of becoming rich by transforming Yugoslavia's ancient communications network through electronic paging. Liem was so impressed that he brought together a dozen investors from the Toronto area, many of whom would contribute their life's savings to the deal. On Nov. 22, 1990, they agreed to advance Markovic $1.3 million (U.S.) over ten years, and in return they were to receive 70 per cent of the company's profits during that period. "When Zoran Markovic told me how he would like to invest money in this country, I praised the idea," said Liem. "I know what foreign capital means for a country in development."

Markovic immediately left for Belgrade, and within a year Bel Pagette had become Serbia's largest private telecommunications firm, with 20,000 subscribers and 400 employees. But just a year after the launch, Yugoslavia plunged into war and the United Nations hit Serbia with stiff economic sanctions. With conditions growing worse by the day, the Canadians wanted him to sell the Belgrade company, in which he was the registered owner. They were also enraged when Markovic refused to send them their share of the profits as promised. "I was waiting for the end of the UN embargo to settle the problem with the Canadians," insists Markovic. "But by then they wanted out of Serbia."

March 10. 1997.
Maclean’s Hunter Magazine
Toronto, Ontario, Canada