A request for a recount and an invitation to an evening protest of citizens around Croatia, with mention of the Ukraine, and then, referring to the Ukrainian scenario, was the final epilogue of the nighttime contemplations of the election staff of presidential candidate Boris Mikšić, who failed to make it into the second round of elections. Of course, no one from his election staff could answer why they suspected that the elections were irregular when the Croatian President Stipe Mesić, despite the fact that he was short less than a percentage point for a win in the first victory, was not proclaimed the election winner.

The fact is that Boris Mikšić, a 56-year old wealthy Croatian emigrant from the US, though he failed to enter into the second round, remains the greatest surprise of the presidential elections. The people from his election staff, surrounded around Major Žarko Delač in the Chinese restaurant on Knez Mislava Street across from the Sheraton, was already on Sunday considering the possibility of contesting the first round results. And who is Boris Mikšić, the man who has succeeded in portraying himself as a self-made millionaire, achiever of the “American dream”, a “boy from Trešnjevka”? In his desire for self-promotion, he even wrote his own romanticized autobiography “The American Dream of the Boy from Trešnjevka”, which was printed in its third edition prior to the elections. His election tactic was very simple – to sell the Croats a soap opera of the success of the poor “boy next door”, who was also a political victim of Communism, as his father Stjepan was a home defense pilot in World War II. “If he knew how to make a fortune, if he knew how to help himself, then he’ll know how to help us”, was the reaction by the majority of voters who decided at the last moment of the campaign to circle his name on the ballot.

A mandatory part of Mikšić’s story is his persistent repetition that he himself financed his campaign, therefore making him completely independent. However, very little is known about the American side of his story. Or rather, we only know that which he decided to tell the Croatian press. It is interesting to note the Boris Mikšić, engineer and great inventor, as he likes to present himself, is not mentioned anywhere on the internet as an inventor and scientist. All the information available about his company Cortec and the products of the same name for anti-corrosive protection of pipes is on the company website. This is all more or less connected to his recent start of a political career in Croatia. However, the real moral character of Boris Mikšić is best seen in the episode with Stjepan Tudjman, son of the late Croatian President.

Mikšić went to the US in the 1970s as an engineer after been picked up while hitchhiking by a young American couple driving a red Ferrari on Samoborska Street. According to the claims of his former friends, Mikšić is not telling the truth when he claims he went to the US with $37 in his pocket. This is a nice figure for the biography and for naïve Croats, however, the truth of the matter is that he had several thousand dollars in his pocket and a guarantee letter from the married couple that had picked him and with whom he had a friendship for several years. At first, he really did do a little bit of everything, until he got a job at Northern Instruments in Minnesota on the recommendation of Dick and Margie Singer, the couple who helped him come to the states.

He spent some time in the company working as a chemical engineer, which was not his profession, only to leave the company after a year and form his own company, and begin working with Cortec. After Northern Instruments saw what Mikšić had done, they sued him for stealing their patent and selling as his own invention. This was also embarrassing for Dick and Margie Singer, who had given their personal guarantee for him in the company where they too worked. The court case lasted for several years and finally, according to Mikšić’s claims, stood on his side and ruled that he had not used Northern’s technological information and released confidential business information.

He did not fare well in business waters. Over the next decade, he had financial problems and in 1984, went bankrupt with his company Cortec. As the reason for the company’s failure, which he sold in the end, Mikšić claimed “overly rapid expansion, accumulated debts, buyers not paying on time, and the banks didn’t want to support it anymore”. In 1984, his marriage to Olga, with whom he has two children, Yvonne and Paul, began to hit rock bottom. In an interview one year ago, Mikšić stated that his daughter was a marketing expert and that his son was a musician with a band, who made a living by playing at weddings. After only a few months, just before the presidential elections, Mikšić said that his children had history degrees and that his “daughter runs a fancy restaurant in St. Paul and son has a band and tone studio”. This sudden sprucing up of his children’s biographies was used by Mikšić for the elections.

In the romanticized biography, it reads: “The money he received with the sale of Cortec was wisely invested on the stock market. After four years, in 1988, he succeeded in buying back the company he had created, as the new owners did not know how to manage it.” After the company stabilized a little, in 1991, he finally divorced Olga, with whom he had gone to America. This was when his relationship with an Italian-American woman, Anne, began, which lead to their marriage in 1995. Anne worked in sales at Cortec, but due to the small salary, she left the company, only to return again in 1993.

When he got back on his financial legs in the early 1990s, Mikšić kept one eye on the events unfolding in Croatia, where Franjo Tudjman had become president. Mikšić recalled that Stjepan Tudjman had gone to high school with him. Suddenly, Mikšić was overwhelmed by this great friendship with his old schoolmate, he contacted him and through him began his grand return to Croatia. The friendship became strong and Stjepan Tudjman, naïve and not overly competent in business, but with a strong name and connections, opened all the doors of Croatia wide open for Mikšić. In order to more tightly bind the younger Tudjman to his side, Mikšić began cooperation with “Domovina Holding”, Stjepan’s company which worked with state agencies and institutions, which procured supplies through the company. Stjepan Tudjman’s only task was to collect a percentage of the sales of everything that was imported. Mikšić saw this as a perfect opportunity for his products for conserving and de-conserving weapons, which he began to sell to the Croatian Military through “Domovina Holding”.

In the mid 1990s, their friendship was further confirmed when Mikšić became godfather to young Ana Marija, Stjepan’s daughter. However, this was never officially recorded in the official parish books, for Mikšić did not have the time to go to the parish and fully carry out his godfather duties.

On 6 May 1996, Franjo Tudjman made his son’s best friend honorary Croatian consul in Minnesota. This honor was given to Mikšić bypassing all good diplomatic customs, and not even Foreign Minister Mate Granic knew of this. With the Tudjman’s, Mikšić became a part of the establishment around the Tudjman family, to whom all doors in Croatia were opened. Mikšić earned big money in dealing with the military, and took good advantage of his suddenly awakened friendship with Stjepan Tudjman.

Mikšić is inclined to brag in female company, and this 55 year old loves to speak of his wealth and the expensive automobiles in his garage of his luxurious ranch and home near St. Paul, capital of Minnesota. He never misses an opportunity to tell the story of how he bought this “luxurious home”, worth at least 2 million dollars, out from under the nose of musical artist Prince, who wanted to paint the entire house pink, his favourite colour. The neighbours contests and Mikšić bought the house in 1984 for half a million less than what Prince had offered. There is not much logic to this story, however, if these kinds of stories make Mikšić happy, then let him enjoy them.

His “friendship” with Stjepan Tudjman suddenly ended when Franjo Tudjman died of cancer in hospital in late 1999. From that moment on, Stjepan Tudjman could no longer get Mikšić on the telephone. This successful businessman and great friend to the Tudjman family and overnight turned his back on his old schoolmate, through whom he had entered into the world of politics, luxury and the new Croatian capitalism. Tudjman called him, but in vain, for him to at least finish off the job with the final import of repromaterials for the military. He needed a few hundred thousand kuna to pay customs and the PDV in order to deliver the goods and bill for them. He asked for Mikšić’s help, as these were Mikšić’s goods. However, Mikšić held off, waiting for the 3 January elections. As soon as HDZ lost power, Mikšić’s telephone became permanently out of reach for Tudjman. Mikšić withdrew his goods and let Domovina Holding go bankrupt. To this day, Stjepan Tudjman has not recovered. He tried to get friends involved, wrote letters, sent faxes, but no response. With the new government and the death of Franjo Tudjman, this longtime friendship disappeared forever, as though it had never existed.

Nor was he overly honest in work with Croatian partners. He tried behind their back to win the contract for anti-corrosive protection of the Krk bridge. They attacked him for not playing fair, and assessed him to be a dirty player, which did not affect him much.

He promised the secretary of “Domovina Holding”, who wanted to continue her education in the US, a secure job in America. However, after only six months, she returned home disappointed. Nothing came of that promise. Nor did the son of the Croatian Ambassador to a European country have any better luck when he went to work at Mikšić’s Cortec in Minnesota where for a time he was a chief associate there. The young man asked Cortec for a letter of guarantee so that he could remain in the US after completing his education. Assessing that the young man was no longer of any use to him, Mikšić refused to give him the guarantee and he was forced to come back to Croatia. Though Mikšić often brags of the great production capacities of his company, his company does not produce anything, but only sells tar and other anti-corrosive products. As Nacional has learned, the company has a very high fluctuation of the staff, and it is not hard to guess why.

Mikšić is certainly the biggest winner of these elections. Though he lost, he will again be able to present himself as a victim, this time of the HDZ regime who, according to him, stole out the second round from under him. He will also be able to brag in the US that he was a highly ranked presidential candidate in Croatia, just as he today brags about his impressive car collection, including a 1959 Rolls Royce in which Ingrid Bergmann and Omar Sharif rode. He however, failed to mention that a car of this age in the US can be purchased for a few tens of thousands of dollars.

But no one in Croatia cares about that. He presented the public with a phony image of himself and his “American dream”, which every naïve Croat also dreams of. Mikšić deserves credit for one this – in the US he learned how to sell a good image of success. And in Croatia, few care what lies behind that lie. It’s important only that it looks nice.

Biography of Boris Mikšić

Born 11 October 1948 in Zagreb
1977 – graduated from Engineering in Zagreb, goes to the US
1977 – founds the company Cortec Corporation
1994 – publishes the book “American Dream of the boy from Trešnjevka”
1994 – Croatian President Franjo Tudjman decorates him with the Order of Danice, with the image of Blaž Lorković
1995 – appointed Honorary Consul of the Republic of Croatia in the US
2000 – proclaimed businessman of the years in the states Minnesota and Dakota
Owns 20 patents in the US, Canada, France and Japan