Dragan Tomić ( sr, Драган Томић; 9 December 1935 – 21 June 2022) was a Serbian politician, a member of the

Socialist Party of Serbia The Socialist Party of Serbia ( sr, Социјалистичка партија Србије, Socijalistička partija Srbije, SPS) is a political party in Serbia. It is led by Ivica Dačić. It was founded in 1990 as the direct successor to t ...

, who was the

President of the National Assembly of Serbia The president of the National Assembly of Serbia ('' sr, Председник Народне скупштине Србије / Predsednik Narodne skupštine Srbije'') is the presiding officer of the National Assembly of Serbia. The president ...

, holding the position from 1994 to 2001. Considered a loyal supporter of

Slobodan Milošević Slobodan Milošević (, ; 20 August 1941 – 11 March 2006) was a Yugoslav and Serbian politician who was the president of Serbia within Yugoslavia from 1989 to 1997 (originally the Socialist Republic of Serbia, a constituent republic of ...

, Tomić was director of

RTV Politika RTV Politika ( sr, РТВ Политика) was a major Serbian TV station, owned by Politika AD, that was on the air from June 28, 1990 until December 31, 2010. It was founded on June 28, 1990 and it was a majority-owned subsidiary of the afor ...

, one of Serbia's main TV stations, and director of

Jugopetrol AD Jugopetrol AD Podgorica ( MNSEJGPK is the largest petroleum company in Montenegro. History The company was established in Kotor on 12 April 1947 at the early beginnings of oil operations in Yugoslavia. The company started its first oil exploratio ...

, the state oil company. After Milošević reached the end of his two allowed terms as

President of Serbia The president of Serbia ( sr, Председник Србије, Predsednik Srbije), officially styled as the President of the Republic ( sr, Председник Републике, Predsednik Republike) is the head of state of Serbia. The curr ...

and got himself elected as

President of Serbia and Montenegro The President of Serbia and Montenegro ( sr, Председник Србије и Црне Горе, Predsednik Srbije i Crne Gore) was the head of state of Serbia and Montenegro. From its establishment in 1992 until 2003, when the country was ...

, Tomić by default became acting President of Serbia, from 23 July to 29 December 1997. In the second cabinet of the Prime Minister Mirko Marjanović, Tomić was the

Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia The Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia ( sr, Потпредседник Владе Србије / Potpredsednik Vlade Srbije, literally translated as Vice President of the Government of Serbia), is the official Deputy of the Prime Minister of Serb ...

, from 1998 to 2000. Tomić was closely tied to Milošević. A 2000 report by Germany's

Federal Intelligence Service The Federal Intelligence Service (German: ; , BND) is the foreign intelligence agency of Germany, directly subordinate to the Chancellor's Office. The BND headquarters is located in central Berlin and is the world's largest intelligence head ...

alleged that Milošević essentially ran a criminal operation, particularly after the 1992

sanctions on Yugoslavia A sanction may be either a permission or a restriction, depending upon context, as the word is an auto-antonym. Examples of sanctions include: Government and law * Sanctions (law), penalties imposed by courts * Economic sanctions, typically a b ...

caused "massive smuggling operations...controlled by Milošević and his cronies, who made vast profits from it"; Tomić was named as one of those cronies. Under Milošević's regime, Tomić led Jugopetrol when "fuel-smuggling was a multi-million dollar business", and "reportedly profited handsomely from the illicit oil that flowed into Serbia during sanctions". Serbian mobster and paramilitary leader

Arkan Željko Ražnatović (, ; 17 April 1952 – 15 January 2000), better known as Arkan (), was a Serbian mobster, politician, sports administrator, paramilitary commander and head of the Serb paramilitary force called the Serb Volunteer Guard duri ...

gave Tomić a medal because he had provided gasoline for Arkan's

Serb Volunteer Guard The Serb Volunteer Guard ( sr, Српска добровољачка гарда, СДГ / ''Srpska dobrovoljačka garda'', SDG), also known as Arkan's Tigers (or only Tigers; sr, Арканови тигрови, links=no / ''arkanovi tigrovi'', ...

, a paramilitary unit guilty of war crimes and ethnic cleansing.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tomic, Dragan 1935 births 2022 deaths People from Zenica-Doboj Canton Kosovo Serbs Socialist Party of Serbia politicians Presidents of the National Assembly (Serbia) Presidents of Serbia within Yugoslavia Socialist People's Party (Serbia) politicians Central Committee of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia members Candidates for President of Serbia