Placed on ECL: Top court puts Shujaat Azeem on no-fly list

Economist tells court national flag carrier faced Rs197b loss in PML-N tenure

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) faced a loss of Rs197 billion during the current tenure of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), economist Farrukh Saleem told the Supreme Court of Pakistan on Tuesday.

In his briefing to the apex court regarding the finances of the flag carrier, Saleem said the total losses of the company stood at tens of billions of rupees.

Regarding the briefing, Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar called the attention of National Accountability Bureau officials to the losses of PIA.

“PIA has been destroyed. The court will not let the organisation go down. Public donations will be gathered to take PIA out of the crisis if need be,” Justice Nisar remarked.



No-fly list

The Supreme Court ordered the name of a former PIA aviation head, Shujaat Azeem, to be put on the Exit Control List.

During the hearing of the case related to the national carrier’s privatisation, the court issued a notice to PIA seeking an explanation on eight appointments in the airline which were deemed against the rules. The top court summoned a reply within 15 days.

“Shujaat Azeem, you cannot go out of the country, and your name is being put on the ECL,” Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar said to the former official after a briefing regarding PIA finances.

While supervising the proceedings of the case, the CJP severely reprimanded Azeem and vowed to punish those responsible for huge losses to PIA.



“All these losses were suffered during your tenure,” the top judge observed while conversing with Azeem, and said that financial discrepancies in PIA accounts must be investigated.

Shujaat Azeem, pleading innocence, said that he had remained the flying adviser to the government for two years, and only made aviation policy.

“I was connected with flying and not PIA. I made the aviation policy during my tenure,” Azeem was reported as saying.

The court also sought replies from all managing directors who have served PIA during the past 15 years about the losses the flag carrier faced during their tenures.