Kirk Douglas was among the guests of the Winter Olympic Games in Sarajevo. Then Osmica magazine published the news that this legendary actor was robbed during his stay in the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH).
The article entitled “The biggest scandal of the Sarajevo Olympics in ’84: How Mate and Fahrudin robbed Kirk Douglas” was published online by Yugopapir.
Everything in Sarajevo worked almost perfectly during the Olympics, except for a few private systems to empty pockets. One of these systems is called the restaurant Una, a private restaurant owned by Fahrudin Sehic.
On Wednesday, February 11th, it was heard that two days earlier, actor Kirk Douglas had dinner at Una with his friends. Instead of charging 5,400 dinars, the owner increased the bill by ten times – he charged exactly 54,000. The restaurant was immediately closed.
Fahrudin’s story
Restaurant Una, above the famous Bascarsija building Morica-han… No one answers the knock. The curtain on the upper floor only moved when the owner noticed that someone was taking photos. An hour later, Fahrudin says: “Aih, aih, what is happening to me?”.
He was complaining, but can’t say what actually happened to him. A mistake was made, and the blame will fall on him, innocent. He would rather show the guestbook from the restaurant, in which many famous guests have written.
Famous names are really written in the book: Vidoje Zarkovic, Dusan Alimpic, Branko Mamula, one of the directors of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Ingemar Stenmark, a group of actors from the Yugoslav Drama Theater visiting Sarajevo… Everyone praises their time in the restaurant “Una”, nobody said that the owner “tricks” when collecting the bill.
“You see,” says Fahrudin, “How was it? There’s not much there… At noon that day, a certain Mate came to me, saying he was a waiter from Rijeka. He was looking for a job. And I have a lot of work these days, so I took him as a waiter. I didn’t even register him, I thought so, for a day or two, while this Olympicslasts…”
That evening, indeed, Kirk Douglas came to Una with his friends, eight of them. They were placed in one room on the upper floor and they ate very nicely and had a very nice time. The owner Fahrudin served while he served, and while everyone took a photo together (for a memory), and then…
“Then I,” explains Fahrudin, “around 1:20 a.m. I went to buy more meat for tomorrow, and that Mate took the bill that my wife made downstairs for 5,400 dinars, added one zero while he went up and charged five million and four hundred thousand.”
When Fahrudin returned from shopping, there were no more guests, but neither was Mate. He robbed both the guests and Fahrudin. Ran away. That’s it.
The inspector’s story
The story of the head of the Market Inspection, Petar Vukovic, is much more documented.”On Tuesday, February 10th, we received a written report from the Winter Olympic Games Organizing Committee, with an attached bill from the Una restaurant, which showed that the owner of the restaurant unjustifiably increased the price by ten times and charged 5.4 million instead of the old 540 thousand,” he said.
The inspection found justification and the municipal authority immediately issued a decision to close the restaurant by March 1st. And why does Fahrudin Sehic claim that some Mate robbed him and the guests?
The hostess who accompanied Kirk Douglas that evening claims, like the rest of the company, that they were served the entire evening by Fahrudin Sehic, who made the bill and took money – personally. Worst of all, he charged in dollars – a total of 400 U.S. dollars.
Here is a list of troubles that have happened or should have happened to Fahrudin: the Judge for Misdemeanors of Stari grad has already imposed a protective measure of revoking the work permit for the owner of Una for a period of five months; a criminal report will follow due to an unjustified gain of more than 30,000 dinars and due to collection in foreign currency; reporting to the municipal revenue authority; reporting to the municipal labor authority due to employment of labor without a contract and confiscation of property profits achieved through unjustified charging.
When it comes to the last measure, the inspector says that Fahrudin repentantly brought $400 to the municipality, to be returned to a certain Mr. Weiss, who paid the bill that evening in Kirk’s company.
The organizing committee offered this to Weiss, with an apology, and Weiss asked that the money be used for humanitarian purposes.
“Aih, aih, shameful“, continues Fahrudin, “And why did it happen to me, as I am a donor… I gave ten old millions for this Olympics.”
“Gave ten, and immediately wanted to return five”, were some comments.
During the Olympics, three more facilities in Sarajevo were closed under this emergency procedure. These are the cafes Stari sat, Motori and Klub A, whose owners Nedzo Alihodzic, Zekija Kapuz and Esad Taljanovic charged more for services than prescribed. If the inspection had not been quick, it would have been said about them “These are the ones who embarassedSeher-Sarajevo”, Klix.ba writes.
E.Dz.
