CAA DG accused of embezzling Rs2 trillion

Khaqan Murtaza refutes allegations of department's association

ISLAMABAD:

Allegations of corruption worth Rs2 trillion were levelled against Civil Aviation (CAA) Director General Khaqan Murtaza by the department's union.

The CAA Officers Employees Association penned a letter dated February 6 to Aviation Minister Khawaja Saad Rafique and the ministry's secretary, contending that Murtaza was “not qualified” to hold office and expressing reservations that he was likely to cause further harm to the department.

The letter held the CAA responsible for the issuance of fake licenses to the pilots of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA).

It added that additional damage was caused because of the CAA’s failure to recover arrears of over Rs300 billion from the national carrier.

The association further maintained that a loss of Rs10 billion was suffered by the PIA in its lease with the Karachi airport.

Furthermore, a loss of Rs400 billion had been incurred on the Rs450 billion property of Lahore Walton Airport, it claimed.

The CAA officers have also maintained that the clear instructions of the prime minister and his cabinet were ignored in the case of Benazir Bhutto International Airport.

They added that over Rs1.3 trillion were lost due to the possession of airport land not being recovered.

The letter alleged that because of the lack of cooperation of the CAA DG, over 100 employees had to approach the court.

It added that during the CAA DG's tenure, contractual positions were granted to his close friends and family members without taking other institutions into confidence about outsourcing.

It was also complained that the issue of pensioners was not taken seriously.

In the letter, the association claimed that the CAA DG had illegally registered two Land Cruisers and a Prado vehicle.

The CAA officers requested that a probe against the DG should be conducted by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).

Responding to these allegations, the CAA DG described them as “baseless” and “contrary to the facts”.

He said a “campaign” had been launched against him for pushing for “merit-based policies” and the officers levelling the allegations were "involved in corrupt practices” themselves.

He added that cases against the association’s president, secretary general Zarin Gul Durrani, and other “corrupt officials” were currently under investigation by the FIA.

The CAA DG vowed to continue taking action against these “corrupt” elements within the organisation.

Murtaza claimed that such letters, based on “malafide intentions”, had been circulated earlier as well and there was nothing new in the latest one.

He speculated that a few officers of the CAA Commercial Directorate could be behind the letter as they were stopped from working because of their “malpractices”.

He clarified that the CAA was not authorised to hand over even an “inch of land” to anyone or take it back from them.