The High Representative in B&H, Valentin Inzko, presented a report on Bosnia and Herzegovina to the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday.

It is interesting that the report before the UN mentions for the first time the work of the Intelligence and Security Agency (ISA), more precisely the compromising facts related to its director Osman Mehmedagić Osmica.

Espionage of opponents

Apart from the problems with the new appointment related to the lack of a valid university education, the indictments against Mehmedagić are also mentioned.

- In October, the Prosecutor's Office of B&H accused the Director General of abusing his position, because under a false pretext he obtained a video of the post office, from which the criminal report against him was sent to the prosecutors, in order to determine who filed the report. He was acquitted in February, but the Prosecution is continuing with other cases against him - the report states.

The fact that the issue of Mehmedagić's management of the ISA has reached the UN Security Council sends a clear signal that a "the straw broke the camel's back", ie that the international community is also considering "cleaning up" this institution. In the early 1990s, Mehmedagić worked on securing the Presidency of B&H, and later as a companion to the first President of the Presidency of the Republic of B&H, Alija Izetbegović.

Close ties with the Izetbegović's were also the main reference for him to be appointed as the head of the ISA in 2015. It soon became clear that the primary role of Osmica was to perform intelligence tasks for the personal and political interests of the Izetbegović couple, which was once confirmed by a video from the "Asim" affair, in which the then president of the SDA Personnel Commission Asim Sarajlić tried to bribe a party member to vote for Fikret Prevljak, and not Semir Efendić, during the election for the new head of the SDA Cantonal Board, praises how Osmica works for them and mentions that "he holds everything, Viber and other social networks", which is an allusion to espionage on the opponents.

Mehmedagić, meanwhile, has managed to get into trouble with the law. In November 2019, the RS Inspectorate officially annulled Mehmedagić's diploma from the University of Business Studies in Banja Luka, thus losing the qualification necessary to perform the function of director.

However, instead of resigning due to unqualification, in July 2020, Osmica managed to get a diploma "up its sleeve", ie to submit a diploma with a master's degree from the American University. This university was left without accreditation at the end of last year, while its owner Denis Prčić is under investigation. According to the information that „Avaz“ has, the Prosecutor's Office of B&H has irrefutable evidence that Mehmedagić did not legally obtain this higher education degree at the American University of Sarajevo-Tuzla.

In February this year, the second indictment against Mehmedagić was confirmed, where, together with the Minister of Security of B&H Selmo Cikotić, he was accused of abusing his position, related to the appointment of members of the commission for the second-level decision on security checks for police and state employees.

Privatization of institutions

This is just part of the compromising facts regarding the current director of ISA. Although in any normal state, the lack of qualifications and the burden of investigations and indictments would mean that Mehmedagić must resign, the SDA persistently blocks the appointment of a new director so that Osmica stays in office for as long as possible. At the same time, they are blocking the work of the Commission for the Supervision of the Work of the ISA of the Parliament of B&H, which is why there has been no civilian supervision over the work of the intelligence service for a long time.

Such moves show that Izetbegović obviously directly connects his political destiny with the position and services of Mehmedagić, whom he is trying to keep in the position of director at any cost. However, the fact that the OHR also deals with these issues and that Inzko also presented the problems related to Mehmedagić to the UN shows that the international community has decided to put an end to this practice of privatizing state institutions.

(Un)explainable links with drugs and money laundering

Osman Mehmedagić found himself in several money laundering scandals during trivial purchases of real estate in cash without origin.

That is how a magnificent house in Sarajevo was bought, and in the same way, with cash without legal cover, his wife bought a car from politician Asim Sarajlić.

Osman Mehmedagić Osmica also has great damage in the international community due to the scandal of the abolition of security checks for a dozen Sarajevo police officers.

As the public knows, Mehmedagić, as the director of ISA, revoked their security clearances. Their only sin was that they submitted to the SC Prosecutor's Office recordings of intercepted conversations between criminals and drug dealers, who boasted that they had given Mehmedagić expensive gifts and corrupted him.

In addition, it is no secret that the fight against the drug mafia in Sarajevo and elsewhere is obstructing by the ISA, because as soon as the police reaches certain drug dealers, Mehmedagić protects them by informing the police that they are his alleged informants.

However, there is obviously no benefit from informants, because huge amounts of drugs remain undetected.

In the end, it is not surprising that Mehmedagić is in an ungrateful position towards certain drug dealers. His wife, Amela Šehović, an unsuccessful pub singer, was a well-known drug user and an arrested dealer.

In that context of enjoying opiates, we should also look at Jasmina Izetbegović, the daughter of the so-called the Ceausescu couple, who consumed drugs and, according to some sources, were undergoing treatment and rehab. While the coronavirus pandemic lasts, Amela Šehović is not performing, but that is why Jasmina Izetbegović is doing great jobs for her company with state-owned companies controlled by the SDA, ie her father Bakir.

These biographical data of the two most powerful families in B&H - Izetbegović and Mehmedagić - want to be removed at all costs in a way that their regime journalists, who are on the ISA payroll, want to attribute the connection with drug dealers to rival politicians.

(F. F.)

History of scandals in intelligence services

B&H intelligence services have a bad reputation since day one. The Investigation and Documentation Agency (AID), which acted as the intelligence agency of the Republic of B&H, has been linked to a number of political assassinations, the most famous of which is the assassination of Nedžad Ugljen, the agency's former deputy director.

In addition, it was connected with an international scandal - the "Pogorelica" case, ie the camp of the same name, which was formally used for anti-terrorist training. On February 16th, 1996, IFOR made a helicopter and transport landing, and the U.S. Admiral Leighton Smith made serious allegations, calling it a training ground for terrorists. Former AID officials Bakir Alispahić, Irfan Ljevaković and Enver Mujezinović were detained in May 2002 over the case.

In 2002, AID and the SNS, the Herceg-Bosna intelligence service, merged, and the Federal Intelligence and Security Service (FOSS) was formed. Finally, in 2004, the Parliament of Bosnia and Herzegovina adopted the Law on the Establishment of the B&H Intelligence and Security Agency, which established the ISA, with the abolition of the entity agencies.

The director of FOSS was Munir Alibabić Munja, who was dismissed by High Representative Paddy Ashdown in 2002 for revealing an official secret, because certain secret documents of this service had become public.