ISLAMABAD: National Assembly Standing Committee on Wednesday told Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi to act against Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) senior officials involved in shady deal of selling one of its aircraft to a museum in Germany.
This issue had been under discussion since several months in Parliament and a decision in this regard, has finally been taken, reported a leading English daily.
PIA’s missing A-310 aircraft has been a subject of intense debate since news of its sales surfaced out in early part of 2017 contravening regulations, rules and respective bodies.
During Wednesday’s session, National Assembly’s standing committee took strong notice to absence of the secretary and said this deal was affront to the nations dignity and no action had been initiated on the offenders till now.
PTI MNA Asad Umar queried Aviation Division Joint Secretary Abdul Sattar Khokhar about why did this sale take place and how were the accused still holding office despite their names coming out in the open.
Chairperson of the committee, Rana Muhammad Hayat was requested by Aliya Kamran to issue instructions for acting against the accused in this scandal. Hayat replied, that a letter with recommendations regarding this issue could be forwarded to Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.
He instructed the committee’s secretary to write a letter and send it to the Prime Minister and act against the accused.
Joint Secretary informed the parliamentary panel Federal Investigation Agency was carrying out an investigation into the deal of PIA’s A-310 aircraft and shared details about it.
The complete report submitted provides all details pertaining to the entire deal and how it was carried out and provided update regarding action taken against the accused.
As per the report, the then PIA CEO Bernd Hildernbrand and director procurement conceived the idea of sale of old aircraft. This led to the approval of A-310 aircraft being sold to a museum in Leipzig, Germany. An advertisement to this sale was also placed in a local newspaper, revealed the investigation.
Furthermore, the report said PIA CEO Hildernbrand took the decision without taking the board into confidence or informing about this sale.
