By: Maria Belén (Ecuador) and Jelena Zoric´ (Serbia)
For eleven years, he managed to live in Ecuador as a ghost. Unnoticed. But from November 13th, 2020 until January 12th, 2021, Milan Milovac was a dead man walking. The last sixty days of his life became a riddle; however, this is nothing compared to the mystery of his hidden activities in Guayaquil, the main port of this country.
Convicted to serve an eleven-year sentence for drug charges, in Serbia, he avoided prison. Even though Interpol was after his trace, he landed in Guayaquil after 2009.
The timing was perfect for his purpose. In fact, Ecuadorean authorities (self-proclaimed as Citizenship’s Revolutionary Government, led by also self-proclaimed leftist Rafael Correa) dismantled the migration control scheme. Correa won presidential elections in 2007 and convinced voters to summon a National Assembly to elaborate a new Constitution, which was approved in 2008. This Constitution created the status of “Universal Citizenship”, welcoming everyone, with no exception; visas were eliminated as a requirement to get into the country. In 2010, a presidential decree established that Ministry of Interior was the legal representative of National Police. As a consequence, in 2012, civil officers of this Ministry took charge of migration control in airports. Security was not a priority, nor the use of technology to prevent the arrival of visitors with a criminal record.
Milovac took advantage of this benevolent atmosphere towards foreign visitors. He obtained a false identity as an Ecuadorean citizen with the name of Marko Patricio Markovic Gómez. Even though he was born in 1974, his Ecuadorean ID declares he is five years younger, i.e., born in 1979.
He obtained the Ecuadorean ID by fraudulent means. There is no doubt that he paid in cash for this illegal service. His fingerprints do not match with the data shown in the index card at Civil Registration office. This was established after his death in January, 2021. By the way, his documents state that he was a single man.
Milovac was allegedly the local representative of cocaine’s Serbian cartel led by drug baron, Darko Saric, as per official investigations in Eastern Europe. Milovac had experience in dealing with Colombian providers, when he worked for an Italian crime organization. This is why he was familiar with Spanish language. From Guayaquil, he was in charge of dealing with a Colombian supplier, probably based in the Andean city of Pasto. Then, he was in charge of sending the drug by the port of Guayaquil, in containers with fresh foods for exports. Reports show that by the beginning of 2020, Saric was informed by his close collaborator, Petar Cosic, that Milovac started working independently. Saric took this as a betrayal, and ordered to kill the ghost based in Ecuador.
His life in Ecuador
Milovac didn´t know that his death sentence was signed in Belgrade, where Saric was serving house arrest for drugs.
Under the coverage of a successful entrepreneur, since 2020 he was living in a rented villa in the exclusive urbanization Camino del Rio, located in kilometre 3,5 in the highway between Guayaquil and Samborondon. Private guards’ custody the entrance; only residents have the tag device that allows access to one of the 150 luxurious villas, some of the valuated in more than 400,000 dollars for sale. Monthly rent is close to 2,000 dollars. He lived alone, and frequently visited by his girlfriend and, more eventually, a friend who is a businessman in the building sector. His circle of friends was small. Local investigations suggest he was used to drink alcoholic beverages alone.
The official institution that controls companies (Superintendencia de Compañías) has no record of Milovac nor Markovic as owner, manager nor shareholder at any company in Ecuador. The official tax national office (Servicio de Rentas Internas) registers him as a contributor. However, the only tax paid by him in five years, was the currency outflow tax. The amount is ridiculous: 70 cents in 2019. His income tax data shows zero, and the economic activity corresponding to 2021 is not declared yet.
This case shows the weakness of the money laundering control system in Ecuador, said an expert for this report. Local rules compel financial organizations to report unusual and unjustified transactions, when amounts exceed 10,000 dollars. He learnt to stay under the radar. It was not complicated in a country where only one sentence for money laundering was issued in the last seven years. The judicial system is also weak, vulnerable and corrupt.
Milovac lived under a false identity in Ecuador. This fact was noticed by Ecuadorean authorities only after he passed away, when his family in Eastern Europe sent a copy of his passport, showing his real name, i.e., Milan Milovac, with Croatian nationality.
Therefore, it is ironic that Ecuadorean citizen Marko Patricio Markovic Gómez was enabled to vote in the last election process, which took place in Ecuador on Sunday, February 5, 2023. 13,4 million voters chose local authorities for cities (mayors), provinces (prefects), and council members for municipalities. Also, a referendum took place in the same date. The paradox is huge. Milovac, a supposed drug operator who died two years ago, is still able to vote at the city of Empalme, province of Guayas, in the desk number 42 in a school facility. This territory is a hotspot for gangs linked with Mexican and Balcan cartels.
This case shows that in Ecuador ghosts are voting in elections and have political rights.
Capture of national electoral register, with Milovac’s false identity in Ecuador. He was able to vote on the last election process, as per this search in Ecuadorean system. Date of search: Thursday, February 2, 2023.
The man who survived twice
“I plan to send an under-age sicario, in such a way that after killing (Milovac), if captured, the young sicario will get easily out of prison”. It is clear that Milovac’s assassins were fully aware of the judicial vulnerabilities in Ecuador. Yes, a killer gets easily out of jail in this country. These chats, encrypted by Sky platform, were known by Serbian authorities, when the cocaine lord, Darko Saric, was convicted again in April 2022, with charges of being the head of a drug trafficking organization. At this point, investigators realised that Saric ordered the crime of Milovac.
Milovac, aka Markovic, was lucky enough to survive twice. The first attack against him took place on November 13th, 2020. It was a Friday, and it seems he was not superstitious. By 1 pm he was driving his white SUV 4 x 4 Ford Explorer, when two sicarios in a motorcycle got close enough to shoot him twice. He received injuries in the neck and the left shoulder. He lost control of the car and hit a lamppost. Emergency system, ECU 911, carried the wounded to a private hospital in Guayaquil.
Six days after the first attempt, killers were desperate, and decided not to waste time and go on with the hunting. Thirteen days after the shooting, they were in panic. “They wrote the son of a bitch has 24-hours custody, he has to kill him and the guards if necessary”. The last day of November, the sicarios were ready to “finish the job”, as chats state.
In fact, December 5th was a Saturday. Colombian citizen Herley Perlaza entered the private clinic, using a false identity. The ID corresponded to Ecuadorean citizen Johnny Piguave. Police members captured him with two cell phone chips and two different identifications. He informed that his only purpose was to warn Milovac to keep his mouth closed. Police officials believed he was trying to kill Milovac. Twenty-four hours later, the information of the new failed-operation reached Serbia. “One of the boys is detained at police station, but he is clean, he had no guns, nor cell phone, he was caught for the use of false document”.
At first, Perlaza was judged for intention of murder, and detained in a prison in Guayaquil. Surprisingly, the prosecutor found no solid evidence to sustain the crime theory and charges were reformulated: Perlaza was judged for the use of a false document. Ten months later the facts, he was convicted and condemned to serve an 18-month sentence in prison. Perlaza accepted the charges, so this was a brief trial. Nowadays he is free.
Local investigations reveal that Milovac was aware at the hospital. He was interviewed by police members on December 8th: he assured he had no enemies. He was not able to sign his statement, so this document was made official with his fingerprint. Seven days later, Police investigators made a risk analysis. The hypothesis of his involvement in criminal – drug activities was at that point justified. As a result, he was included in the National Program of Victims and Witnesses, held by National Attorney Office.
On December 21st, his girlfriend Daniela Zamora informed local authorities that he voluntarily resigned to his protected status. Allegedly, everything was been fixed in order for him to travel to Europe.
Everything indicates that his girlfriend installed a medical facility in the villa and hired the nursery service. By 6 pm of Monday January 11th, 2021, the patient left the private hospital and was taken back home. Nine hours later (by 3 am of the following day), the Emergency ECU-911 received a call. The ambulance carried him back to the same hospital he left in previous hours. When he arrived, he was declared dead.
The official document of autopsy was released by 6 am of January 12th. Confirmed scars in the back of the neck, in the back of the left shoulder, and established a third injury: “There is a surgical scar in the abdominal epigastrium of 10 centimeters of extension”. An investigator told, in condition of anonymity, that the hypothesis of the “final job” when he was at home cannot be discarded.
The case is open in Ecuador, but highly classified. In January, judicial authorities of Croatia requested official information about the progress in this investigation, through the figure of Criminal Assistance.