The Senate subcommittee on PIA to probe into the circumstances under which the alleged sale of PIA bus 310 to a German firm in violation of rules was informed on Tuesday that the name of the former CEO, a German national, was removed from the ECL by the specific order of the then Interior Minister on a letter from the Foreign Office.
ISLAMABAD, (Pakistan Point News - 30th Jan, 2018) : The Senate subcommittee on PIA to probe into the circumstances under which the alleged sale of PIA bus 310 to a German firm in violation of rules was informed on Tuesday that the name of the former CEO, a German national, was removed from the ECL by the specific order of the then Interior Minister on a letter from the Foreign Office. The Sub Committee headed by Senator Farhatullah Babar and including Senator Nauman Wazir and Tahir Hussain Mashhadi met in the office of Secretary Civil Aviation Division in the PIA complex in Islamabad and attended by secretary Civil Aviation besides high ranking officials of PIA, Interior, Defence, FIA, JAG branch and others.
The meeting was also informed that under directions of the Public Accounts Committee of the National Assembly the case has since been referred to the NAB for inquiry. Besides the FIA has also taken notice and started its own investigations. The Secretary Civil Aviation said that the sale of the aircraft in question had been stopped and that it was still the property of the government of Pakistan. However, he said that negotiations for not charging the parking fee for the aircraft were still going on.
The Committee members were surprised at the glaring flaws in the tendering process while neither the Director Procurement nor the MD PIA had the authority to finalize the sale and move the aircraft outside the country, to Germany. The Committee noted that when the former MD PIA Mr Bernd Hildenbrand failed to return to Pakistan after the expiry of one month period the Interior Ministry wrote to the FO to take up the matter with the German Embassy in Islamabad on whose guarantee and commitment the permission had been granted.
We will demand of the Foreign Office to produce the written commitment/guarantee given by the German Embassy and ask whether and when it took up the matter with the German Embassy in Islamabad and what was the response of the Embassy, Senator Farhatullah Babar said. We must not let the former MD escape from answering some searching questions about the attempted sale of the aircraft, he said. If someone gave guarantee on his behalf the guarantor must be held accountable and if there was no such guarantee then the officials responsible for allowing the ex MD leave the country must be held accountable, he said.
