Tirak: Air traffic in BiH is controlled by the mafia

The skies above Bosnia and Herzegovina have not been protected for more than 20 years, as air traffic in Bosnia and Herzegovina is controlled by criminal structures, warns aviation expert Rifat Tirak.

The Patria News Agency published an article on Wednesday titled "The skies above BiH are still not protected by anyone," after which Tirak reacted.

>> The skies above BiH are not protected by anyone

This aviation expert warns that the skies of Bosnia and Herzegovina are managed by domestic and foreign criminal structures. Bosnia and Herzegovina, 23 years after the end of the conflict in BiH, still has no control over its skies. The radars purchased for these purposes are completely unusable, despite being paid for multiple times.

Tirak states that the story about BiH starting to control its skies up to ten thousand meters from November 13 last year is a big deception of the public.

- It is completely hidden from the public that military radars of neighboring countries control our airspace at all altitudes over more than a third of the territory - warns Tirak.

Unusable Radars

- The main reason why there is no one to protect BiH's skies is that we have not had control over our airspace for all these twenty-three years since the declaration of independence. The reason for this is that, having exploited the war, certain criminal structures took over control in the field of air traffic and, through corruption and other methods, have constantly prevented the work of domestic experts.

Completely illegally, arbitrarily, they concluded an agreement with neighboring countries for them to control our airspace on the principles of Greater Serbia and Croatia, with gross violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of BiH, disrespect for the Constitution, and blatant plundering of the state budget - says Tirak.

This expert warns that the delivery of an exceptionally good radar from the American company Northrop Grumman, whose managers were delighted by BiH experts, was prevented in an exclusively criminal manner. For the purchase of that radar, Tirak further states, half of the money was paid in 1999, and the radar was supposed to be installed on the top of Bjelašnica.

The BiH Prosecutor's Office has been conducting an investigation into this case since 2004.

- The crime continues as in 2006, a completely wrong radar was purchased from the Spanish company INDRA, which was only installed on Jahorina in 2011. This is the second wrong radar purchased because a radar was previously purchased in 2001 at Sarajevo Airport from the French company TALLIS. It is an extremely old used radar, overpaid for - reveals Tirak.

Millions in Crime at BHDCA and BiH Armed Forces

He says that millions in crime are also occurring in the Directorate of Civil Aviation of BiH, as well as in the Surveillance and Reporting Battalion within the Armed Forces.

- The Civil Aviation Directorate (BHDCA) had two departments that functioned as regulators and service providers, which is the purpose of this directorate, given that we are a small country by area and a flight over the entire territory takes about twenty minutes. The problem existed because there were two more entity directorates that were unconstitutional and dysfunctional, and besides a number of anomalies, they also operated with accounts outside the unified entity treasury account. When prosecutors began investigating such operations, the entity directorates were quickly and quietly abolished.

The Surveillance and Reporting Battalion is of exceptional importance for the defense of the state and the BiH Armed Forces. This is a unit that should control the entire territory above the ground and prevent violations and threats to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of BiH's airspace.

It is precisely this battalion that is intended to have information at all times about who, when, where, and why is moving in our airspace. Unfortunately, this unit does nothing and does not fulfill the tasks and obligations arising from the Constitution and laws of BiH in the slightest. Everything concerning this battalion is kept secret, and more than five million KM of insufficient budget funds are spent on this area, completely uselessly.

It is necessary to know that all countries in the world have identical military formations, including our neighboring countries, which control the airspace of Serbia, Montenegro, and Croatia, and due to the aforementioned, practically quisling, agreements, their military radars control their respective halves of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian airspace.

In order to completely disable the defense capabilities of BiH, and also for personal gain, a completely unnecessary and harmful new state institution was established in 2009, called the Agency for Provision of Air Traffic Services in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Under the influence of organized crime and corruption, a special law was even passed for this Agency, which has not been implemented from the very beginning (especially Article 29 related to the appointment of management).

Characteristic of this agency is general lawlessness; domestic regulations and laws are not respected; the salary regulation is arbitrarily implemented to astronomically unjustified high incomes; they build restaurants, buy the most expensive cars; the people they call controllers are trained in the wrong institutions, uncertified; employment is mostly done without competition; money flows uncontrollably outside the unified treasury account of BiH, and just under twenty million KM has been illegally transferred to the Agency's account.

Radars of Serbia and Croatia still control BiH's skies

Many more illegalities can be listed in the Agency for Provision of Air Traffic Services in Bosnia and Herzegovina, primarily, he says, nepotism reigns in the Agency. However, the biggest problem is that the Agency does not control BiH's airspace at all.

- Due to public pressure, but mostly due to fear of criminal prosecution, from November 13 last year, with almost Goebbels-like propaganda in the media, they started a so-called control, but only up to ten thousand meters. At the same time, the process of concluding contracts with neighboring countries (this time through the Council of Ministers and the Presidency of BiH) was initiated for them to continue violating the sovereignty and territorial integrity of BiH and continue controlling our airspace above 10 thousand meters.

They have completely concealed from the public the real situation, which shows that military radars of neighboring countries control our airspace at all altitudes over more than a third of the territory - claims Tirak. (The illustration shows what the air situation looks like related to these quisling agreements).

He states that Bosnia and Herzegovina has the same or better experts in the field of air traffic than neighboring Serbia and Croatia, but due to the extremely strong influence of organized crime and corruption on the holders of political and judicial power in BiH, domestic experts are not given enough space.

Tirak warns that the plundering of the BiH budget, disrespect for the BiH Constitution, and the constant violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Bosnia and Herzegovina continue through air traffic, reports Patria.