Flying Blind: Negligence, Nepotism and Graft at Kosovo Airport

Whistleblowers say lives are at risk from the scale of wrongdoing at

Kosovo’s only international airport.

Bujar Ejupi has tired yet hawkish blue eyes beneath thick eyebrows. His skin
is pale, his manner determined despite the threats and pressure of the past
two years.

Ejupi, 37, was once deputy director and head of finances at Kosovo’s Air
Navigation Service Agency, ANSA, the state body that manages air traffic at
the country’s sole international airport run by a consortium between the
private Turkish company Limak and Aeroports de Lyon since 2011.

Ejupi was fired in mid-2017, after a year in which he was repeatedly warned
he would lose his job if he kept writing to the government about the
negligence and mismanagement he had encountered.

He has spent most of the 12 months since trying to convince the police to
take him seriously.

Ersen Shileku, the former head of operations at ANSA, faced a similar fate.
 Flying Blind: Negligence, Nepotism and Graft at Kosovo Airport

have led, among other things, to repeated power cuts and roadside repairs to
a radar by a local car mechanic.

Air traffic control has effectively been handed to relatives of the man whose
name Prishtina International Airport took in 2010, Adem Jashari – a revered
guerrilla who was killed in 1998 along with 58 relatives in a hail of Serbian
bullets as an armed rebellion against Serbian rule gathered pace.

Ejupi and Shileku have spent the last two years trying to raise the alarm about negligence and
corruption at the Prishtina airport. | Pho to: Atdhe Mulla.

Jobs have been handed out, Ejupi and Shileku say, to relatives of Kosovar
politicians and to friends and family of senior managers, regardless of their
qualifications. With more than 1.7 million passengers flying through the
airport every year, they say lives are being put at risk.
 ngers, we would not be able to live

Flying Blind: Negligence, Nepotism and Graft at Kosovo Airport


security and safety of flights is in jeopardy because of the deliberate
negligence, lack of professionalism and the corruption that we saw,” Ejupi
told BIRN.

The airport management disputes their accusations, some of which have

also come to the attention of the European Union’s rule of law mission in
Kosovo.
 Flying Blind: Negligence, Nepotism and Graft at Kosovo Airport


'BEHIND THE GLITZY FAÇADE…'

Kosovo’s only international airport is forever etched in history as the place

where – as NATO soldiers took control of Kosovo from vanquished Serbian
forces at the end of 11 weeks of air strikes – British general Michael Jackson
rebuffed an order from the Western alliance’s US commander, Wesley Clark,
to park helicopters on the runway to prevent Russian troops from
reinforcing, telling him “Sir, I’m not going to start World War Three for you.”
It was 1999.

Twelve years later, the airport became the object of newly-independent

Kosovo’s first Public-Private Partnership, PPP, (http://kutia.tera-
bytespace.net/viewer/3392)under which the Turkish-French consortium
would run it for the next two decades on condition it invest 80 million euros
in infrastructure upgrades, including construction of a new terminal. Limak
holds 90 per cent of the shares in the consortium.

Kosovo’s government projected the deal would swell state coffers by 400
million euros over the course of the concession.
 Flying Blind: Negligence, Nepotism and Graft at Kosovo Airport

Kosovo’s then prime minister, now president, Hashim Thaci.

“But behind the glitzy façade of this big terminal, there are a lot of things in
the PPP agreement that remain undone – things that are key to aviation
standards,” said Ejupi.

Bujar Ejupi, head of finances at the Air Navigation Services Agency, ANSA, says he was shocked by
the neglig ence and mismanagement in the agency. | Photo: Atdhe Mulla.

They include: widening the airfield for a runway safety strip at a cost of
roughly 3 million euros; more space to park planes, valued at 5 million euros;
a de-icing platform worth 2 million euros and a 1.5 million euro training area
for firefighters.

Nor does the airport have a second backup power generator, a must-have for
many businesses in Kosovo due to the country’s unstable electricity supply,
let alone for its sole international airport.
 Flying Blind: Negligence, Nepotism and Graft at Kosovo Airport

in the job as head of operations so it was my job to investigate why we had a
cut.”

“The question totally backfired on me,” he said. “After a few exchanges my

boss told me not to push it any further.”

Shileku’s boss was Bahri Nuredini, appointed as head of ANSA in 2011 by

Thaci. ANSA is largely in charge of the Air Traffic Control Tower, (http://ku-
tia.terabytespace.net/viewer/3394) while Limak manages the airport itself.

Nuredini’s uncle on his mother’s side is 43-year-old Bekim Jashari, the head
of the ANSA board from 2008 until January 2016 when he left to become
mayor of Skenderaj, the main town in Kosovo’s Drenica region, heartland of
the guerrilla Kosovo Liberation Army that Thaci was a leader of.

Both Nuredini and Jashari were relatives of Adem Jashari, considered the
KLA’s greatest martyr to the cause.

Ejupi estimates the failure to fulfill the contract has cost Kosovo roughly 14.5
million euros and that since 2011 the airport has made barely 30 million
euros of the 400 million that the public purse was projected to reap over the
20-year concession.

“I started getting complaints from air traffic controllers that the tower was
cold in the evenings and at nights when they had to operate flights,” said
Ejupi. “This prompted me to check what was wrong with our heating system,
only to find out it was never built by the Turkish company.”

Under the contract, Ejupi said, Limak “was obliged to build a tower with an
independent heating and cooling system as well as a tower with continuous,
24/7 power supply – both of which we clearly did not have.”
 Flying Blind: Negligence, Nepotism and Graft at Kosovo Airport


Red flags have already been raised over the airport contract.

In two reports in 2014 (http://www.zka-rks.org/wp-content/up-

loads/2017/06/RaportiAuditimit.ANP.AJ.2013.Shqip.938332.pdf) and 2016,
Kosovo’s National Audit Office warned about lax government oversight of
the contract’s implementation.

The 2016 report (about:blank) complained that “the outstanding works are
not finished yet and it is not specified when and how they will be finalised.”

Speaking to BIRN’s ‘Jeta ne Kosove’ program in April, Lorik Fejzullahu, the

former head of the Private Public Partnership Unit within Kosovo’s finance
ministry, said that Limak did not finish the works because it requires
additional airfield space, which he said was occupied by KFOR, the NATO-
led peacekeeping force stationed in Kosovo since 1999.

Limak could have walked away from the contract, he said, given the Kosovo
government’s failure to secure the space needed from KFOR. “One day,
sooner or later, Limak will have to do this remaining work,” said Fejzullahu.

KFOR, however, disputed this, saying it had received no such request to

vacate airfield space.

“KFOR has not been involved directly in any planning or project for the
improvement of Prishtina Airport facilities,” KFOR chief spokesperson
Vincenzo Grasso told BIRN on July 11. “KFOR airport staff usually attend
coordination meetings with Limak and sometimes those topics were
mentioned, but KFOR was never blamed.”

“From what is visible on the ground and on the map, a possible extension of
the runway and of the taxiway is not interfering with the part of the airport
currently occupied by KFOR,” Grasso said.
 Flying Blind: Negligence, Nepotism and Graft at Kosovo Airport

this step, with Fejzullahu insisting “This is the best implemented contract in
the region.”

Ejupi and Shileku say the delays are dangerous.

Bujar Ejupi

Ejupi first joined the airport staff in 2003 as an Aeronautical Information

service supervisor, working up to the post of deputy commercial director
before he left in 2013. He then joined Kosovo’s Riinvest Institute, authoring a
2015 report (http://kfos.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/2.-ANP-AIRPORT-
CONCESSION.pdf) that detailed the shortcomings in the PPP deal and its
implementation.

Shileku was the airport’s Coordination Manager from 2001 to 2014, when he
became a Quality and Safety Manager at Istanbul Airport for the next two
years.
 Flying Blind: Negligence, Nepotism and Graft at Kosovo Airport

high level officials at the airport and political
figures it is unlikely that any such
investigation could be done without
interference by individuals in positions of
influence and power.
-EU L EX REP ORT

When then Prime Minister Isa Mustafa appointed the pair to their ANSA
posts in 2016, Ejupi believed the authorities were serious about putting
things right.

BIRN has reviewed more than 30 letters and e-mails dating from August 2016
in which Ejupi and Shileku raised questions relating to the safety and
security of flights and irregular activities regarding hiring, radar
maintenance and suspicions of kick-backs paid to keep unfinished work
under wraps.

They were sent, initially, to Mustafa, then Finance Minister Avdullah Hoti
and then Transport Minister Lutfi Zharku. No one replied. Ejupi and Shileku
repeated their complaints to the government of Prime Minister Ramush
Haradinaj that came to power in late 2017.

Asked about the concerns, Haradinaj told BIRN in December: “I am not a

judge. The issues that they are reporting have to be investigated and dealt
with by the courts.”
 Flying Blind: Negligence, Nepotism and Graft at Kosovo Airport

are conducting a preliminary “collection of evidence” but no formal
investigation has been launched almost a year since Ejupi and Shileku first
complained.

A report by the EU’s rule of law mission in Kosovo, EULEX, expressed doubt
about the effectiveness of any such investigation given the profile of those
involved.

“[I]t is highly likely that there are serious safety issues, poor management
practices and potential corruption taking place at the airport in Pristina that
require further investigation,” said the report, written in late 2017 and leaked
to BIRN early this year.

“Given the clear and obvious links between high level officials at the airport
and political figures it is unlikely that any such investigation could be done
without interference by individuals in positions of influence and power.”

A DRIVER’S VALUABLE ‘CONNECTIONS’

In a letter to Kosovo’s Anti-Corruption Agency, dated August 31, 2017, Ejupi

detailed 10 separate practices at the airport that raised suspicions of
corruption.

They included the promotion of employees to positions they were not

qualified for, the mismanagement of assets and budgets, the payment of
salaries for employees who never came to work and a mismanaged,
7-million-euro contract to relocate radar equipment and software.
 Flying Blind: Negligence, Nepotism and Graft at Kosovo Airport

He said he had in fact asked Limak to hire his brother as a baggage handler,
which the company did in 2013.

“It’s true I asked a friend in Limak if he could do this for me, if he could hire
my brother as a seasonal worker,” said Nuredini. “We’re not strangers; they
showed understanding.”

The ANSA boss said other senior ANSA managers, past and present, had also
helped relatives get hired at the airport.

BIRN’s investigation corroborated this. And one of those hires stands out.

Projected costs and earnings from the Prishtina International Airport concession.

BIRN was leaked an invoice showing that a company called H&B ShpK is
being paid 10,000 euros per month by Limak for consultancy services.
 Flying Blind: Negligence, Nepotism and Graft at Kosovo Airport

current position of Skenderaj mayor as well as when he was head of the
ANSA board.

Mecini is also a member of the extended Jashari family.

Asked what kind of services the driver of a significant political figure might
be providing, Limak Kosovo CEO Haldun Firat Kokturk told the Jeta ne
Kosove program: “He is providing consultancy… We have seasonal workers
for cleaning and security sometimes. He coordinates that and provides
reports.”

When asked whether he was aware that personal drivers in Kosovo are
frequently used as intermediaries for kick-backs, Kokturk replied: “It may
smell like that to you…But… he is just the owner of the company. He has other
workers working there.”

Mecini’s company, he said, “has connections” valuable for locating cleaners

and security guards. BIRN asked for details regarding Mecini’s qualifications
and the consultancy contract, but Limak declined to provide them.

During the course of this investigation, on February 14 this year, Mecini re-
registered ownership of H&B to Ilker Yesilmenderes, a Turkish national.
Kosovo’s business registry is a public record (http://biznesetehapu-
ra.com/sq?page=1&municipality=any&biz-status=any&person-sta-
tus=any&person=Murat%20Mecini&business=)and names Mecini as owner
of H&B ShpK from 2013 until Yesilmenderes took over.

Contacted by phone, Mecini told BIRN “my contracts are none of your
concern.” Jashari did not respond to requests for comment.
 Flying Blind: Negligence, Nepotism and Graft at Kosovo Airport

employees include President Thaci’s nephew,
Sinan Thaci, and the son of former Foreign
Minister Skender Hyseni, Yll.

According to BIRN’s findings, Limak’s employees also include President

Thaci’s nephew, Sinan Thaci, and the son of former Foreign Minister Skender
Hyseni, Yll. Kadrie Buja, whose husband Shukri Buja was mayor of Lipjan –
the municipality where the airport is located – was also on the books until
her husbands’s tenure ended in 2013 and she was let go (Limak refused to
comment these employments).

Ejupi and Shileku allege that such practices represent serious conflicts of
interest and are unlikely to encourage strict monitoring of how well the PPP
contract is being implemented.

Kokturk denied Limak hired staff based on their political connections.

“In this country, with a very small population, 1.7 million, everyone needs a
job,” he said. “The one who asks for a job, it is not something to be ashamed
of. It is good to ask for a job,” he said. It shows, he argued, that those in power
are not asking for money or gifts.” They are “just willing to work.”

CASE ‘CLOSED’

Ejupi cited the example of the non-existent second generator. Its absence
was first noted in an ANSA inspection in 2014, two years before the power
cuts began and before Ejupi joined the company.
 Flying Blind: Negligence, Nepotism and Graft at Kosovo Airport


According to copies seen by BIRN, a draft of the report from February 2014
notes the absence of a second generator. The final version, however,
produced in September, describes the matter as “closed”, without
elaborating.

Two years later, in August 2016, the lights went out three hours before Biden
was due to land, a major political event in Kosovo where the United States
enjoys significant clout and popularity as a major financial and diplomatic
backer.

Shileku frantically started investigating. Driton Mehaj, head of the technical

team, told him ANSA relied on a manual generator owned by Limak, which
has to be powered up and takes several minutes to get going. Limak’s
Kokturk also pointed to this generator as the backup power Limak was
obliged to buy for ANSA.

“This worried me to death,” Shileku told BIRN. “Minutes in aviation are not
something you should take lightly.”

Ersen Shileku
 Flying Blind: Negligence, Nepotism and Graft at Kosovo Airport

citing recent power cuts in the US city of Atlanta and in Croatia. The CAA has
certified ANSA as fit for service despite the lack of a second generator.

Nuredini also played down the danger, saying the main generator was up
and running again within 24 minutes.

Only it happened again less than a year later, on June 27, 2017, when the
power went and the UPS – an uninterruptible power supply that should kick
in temporarily while power is restored – also failed. Planes disappeared from
the screens of air traffic controllers and Skopje airport had to jump in until
the power came back 12 minutes later, according to multiple accounts.

“When it happened the first time, and we lost power for 30 minutes, I found it
unacceptable for us to rely on this sort of power supply,” Shileku said.

“It costs only 20,000 euros to have this equipment and even if the private
investor wanted to cut corners and not invest in this, I am sure we could
have gotten it if we had insisted on it.”

“I told my colleagues that even supermarkets in Kosovo buy a backup

generator to look after their meat in the freezer and here we are dealing with
people’s lives in the air.”

CAR MECHANIC-TURNED-RADAR REPAIR MAN

Nagip Goga, a welder and car mechanic in the town of Ferizaj south of the
capital, recalled the day airport staff turned up and asked for his help. It was
December 30, 2016, one of the busiest periods for the airport.
 Flying Blind: Negligence, Nepotism and Graft at Kosovo Airport

worked.”

Little did Goga know but the joint was part of the airport’s navigation radar,
which had broken down. A 7-million-euro contract between ANSA and the
equipment supplier TCN for maintenance of the radar had been terminated
by TCN three months earlier over late payments by ANSA, according to
documents reviewed by BIRN.

With no maintenance cover and no spare parts in storage, ANSA called

neighbouring airports to see if it could borrow a spare rotary joint. Tirana
agreed and a number of ANSA workers were dispatched to pick it up. It
turned out the spare did not fit Prishtina’s radar, hence Goga the welder’s bit-
part in restoring operations.

After a power cut at the airport, Ersen Shileku, head of operations at ANSA, asked for a risk
assessment. It was never done. | Photo: Atdhe Mulla.

Shileku said the episode was eye-opening.

 Flying Blind: Negligence, Nepotism and Graft at Kosovo Airport

he said.

Gjonbalaj of the CAA, however, was unperturbed, saying an authorised

ANSA engineer supervised Goga’s work, meaning flight safety was never in
jeopardy.

“The CAA guarantees that the services [navigating signal] offered by that
radar are in accordance with all safety standards,” he said.

The CAA’s own website (http://www.caa-ks.org//wp-content/up-

loads/2016/04/TP-12-Guidance-material-for-the-application-of-SAM-1.pdf),
however, bases safety and risk assessment standards on European Commis-
sion regulation 1035/20011 (http://kutia.terabytespace.net/viewer/3395),
according to which (https://www.skybrary.aero/index.php/Regula-
tion_2096/2005_-_Common_Requirements_for_the_Provision_of_Air_Naviga-
tion_Services#Safety_Regulation_of_Engineering_and_Technical_Personnel)
providers of air traffic services must ensure that sub-contractors “have and
maintain sufficient knowledge and understanding of the services they are
supporting”.

Goga was reluctant to offer any guarantees for his work.

“Of course, I’m no aviation expert, nor have I ever worked on navigation
equipment before so I’m not qualified to offer any guarantees on this part,”
he said.

The episode epitomised the airport’s failure to invest in expertise, Ejupi said.

“You have to ensure that the people dealing with the navigation equipment
are professionals, and more importantly that we have the procedures in
place to respond professionally once this equipment breaks down,” he said.

Such measures, he said, “can end up saving lives.”

 Flying Blind: Negligence, Nepotism and Graft at Kosovo Airport

they were working on sub-standard software because the contract with the
radar supplier, TCN, had ended before the hardware had been integrated.
That has left them working on a different signal to their counterparts at
other airports in the Balkans.

Asked about the oversight, Nuredini said the work would be completed with
extra funds in 2018.

Nuredini fired Ejupi on August 14, 2017; the Kosovo government confirmed
his dismissal in January 2018.

Ejupi said he refused to leave without a written explanation for his

dismissal, so Nuredini called security.

The ANSA boss denies having Ejupi thrown out by security but did say he
was fired for “having poked his fingers into contracts, as it’s not his job to
inspect things.”

Ejupi was replaced as ANSA deputy director in June this year by Shpetim
Selmanaj, a member of Prime Minister Haradinaj’s co-ruling AAK party
(https://kallxo.com/haradinaj-e-pranon-se-zevendes-drejtori-i-ashna-se-ka-
qene-ne-aak/). Selmanaj was secretary of the AAK youth forum, a personal
assistant to Haradinaj and has overseen river cleaning projects (he admitted
to being an AAK member but did not comment further on his recruitment).

Ejupi applied for his old job when it was advertised, but did not hear back.
“Clearly, politicians would rather not see professionals running things, but
society does,” he said.

“In aviation, one cannot wait for things to go wrong and only then mobilise
to fix them,” he said. “It will be too late to fix things once they go wrong.”
 (https://trembelat.com/) Development by
Kutia.
Flying Blind: Negligence, Nepotism and Graft(https://kutia.net/)
at Kosovo Airport Graphics by Bardh

Ulaj, Trembelat. Photography by Atdhe Mulla. Videography by Fatrion
Ibrahimi.
Facebook Flying Blind: Negligence, Nepotism and Graft at Kosovo Airport

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