The Owner of “Besa Trans” Is Not In North Macedonia, But In Bulgaria
The Minister of Interior, Oliver Spasovski, made a false claim at a press conference in the Government that all persons, including the owner of “Besa Trans”, are in the country and available to institutions if needed
After the bus of “Besa Trans” caught fire in Bulgaria, where 45 people lost their lives and seven were injured, the Minister of Interior Oliver Spasovski at a joint press conference with the Minister of Transport and Communications Blagoj Bochvarski and the Minister of Foreign Affairs Bujar Osmani provided more information regarding the investigation. One of those pieces of information was not true.
Spasovski: “These people are available, they are here, and they are being talked to, on orders given by the Basic Public Prosecutor’s Office. There will be talks with the passengers from the other buses, but we are waiting for the orders.”
[Source: Press conference in the Government of RNM (34.40-35.15 min.), Date: 26 November 2021]
EXPLANATION:
At 34 minutes and 14 seconds to 34 minutes and 38 seconds in the video, a journalist at the press conference asks the Minister of Interior Oliver Spasovski:
“Have you talked to the owners of “Besa Trans”, do you know where they are? Are they in this country or not? Did the Ministry of Interior get in touch and make informative talks with these people?”.
Minister Spasovski’s answer was not true.
The owner of the carrier “Besa Trans”, Bekim Haxhiu, was not in N. Macedonia on 26 November. He did not return to the country from Bulgaria after learning that his bus had burned down on the highway.
This was first told by witnesses who were with Hadziu on the bus returning from Bulgaria. According to them, Haxhiu was the second driver on another bus (not the one that burned down). After that bus arrived at the Bulgarian border and the owner of “Besa Trans”, Bekim Haxhiu, found out about the accident, he did not even leave Bulgaria, but got off the bus at the Bulgarian border and went by taxi to the scene of the accident. In fact, he did not return to the country at all after the accident where his bus burned down.
Additionally, confirmation came from Haxhiu himself. In an interview with Bulgarian television BNT, he said he rented an apartment in Sofia and stayed in Bulgaria to be available to Bulgarian investigators.
At 2.30 minutes in the video, Haxhiu says he found out about the bus accident at the border, after which he returned. Since then he has not come to N. Macedonia at all because he wanted to be available to the Bulgarian authorities, according to the BNT report.
“I went back, I wanted to see with my own eyes what had happened there,” Haxhiu said.
A number of media that participated in the press conference in the government, noticed that Minister Spasovski said that Haxhiu was “here” and then it turned out that he did not return to the country at all after the accident. There was police security in front of “Besa Trans” in the old Skopje Bazaar, as well as in front of his house, but the owner of the company was not there even on the day when the families of the passengers asked for answers whether their loved ones were alive or dead. Hadziu has not yet made any statement to the Macedonian prosecution.
Due to the above reasons, we consider that the statement made by the Minister of Interior that the owner of “Besa Trans” Bekim Hadziu is “here” (in the country) is not true.
SOURCES:
- Government of RNM – Press Conference of O. Spasovski and B. Bochvarski – [Accessed on: 2 December 2022]
- Sloboden Pecat – Ekrem Dolek: my son lost 15 friends… [Accessed on: 2 December 2022]
- Telma TV – The owner of “Besa Trans” is not returning to Macedonia… [Accessed on 2 December 2022]
- BNT News – Exclusive for BNT: The owner of the burned bus speaks … [Accessed on: 2 December 2022]
Assessed by: Miroslava Burns
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This article has been produced within the project Fact-Checking the Progress of North Macedonia towards the EU, implemented by the Metamorphosis Foundation. The article, originally published by Truthmeter,, is made possible by the support of the American non-profit foundation NED (National Endowment for Democracy). The content of this article is the responsibility of the author and does not necessarily reflect the views of Metamorphosis, NED or their partners.
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