Accused Serbian Tycoon Asks to Travel Abroad

"Why don't you allow me to work normally and Delta to operate normally?" Miskovic asked during his Belgrade trial for fraud concerning the privatization of road companies.

Miskovic said he was deeply disappointed with the court's decision to ban him from travelling and that Delta could not operate normally with him "sitting in Serbia.

"What do I need to provide to be able to operate normally? I deposited a 12 million euro bail and my 55 million euro are blocked," he said.

"If I had wanted to flee, I would not have returned from London," Miskovic added.

The tycoon said that his company, which employs 8,000 people, was losing millions of euro each year because of his ban on traveling abroad.

The judge said the court had established that there was no need for him to travel and that Miskovic's business operations could be carried out if meetings were organized differently.

The trial began in November with the reading of the indictment filed by the Prosecutor's Office for Organised Crime against Miskovic, his son, Marko, and their associates. All are charged with fraud in connection with road maintenance companies.

Miskovic is accused of illegally withdrawing money from the road maintenance companies and tax evasion from 2005 to 2010, which caused 16.95 billion dinars (about 150 million euro) worth of losses to the companies and 472 million dinars (4 million euro) worth of losses to the state budget.

Miroslav and Marko Miskovic are charged with criminal abuse of office and tax evasion. Both crimes entail a prison sentence of up to ten years.

Miskovic's lawyer, Zdenko Tomanovic, said his team was gathering legal expertise from the US, Britain, Canada, Germany and Belgium.

Miskovic was...