ISLAMABAD:
Taking suo motu notice of allegations of financial irregularities in some deals of the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), the Supreme Court issued summons to the national flag carrier’s chairman Rao Qamar Suleman.
The allegations of misappropriated finances were made by the Transparency International Pakistan (TIP) through an application, which was later converted into a petition by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry under Article 184 (3) of the Constitution.
A date for the hearing has been fixed for the second week of October.
The TIP had forwarded a request of PIA employees, which was published as a story in the English-language daily The News on November 19, 2011.
In the news item, PIA employees prayed the chief justice to take suo motu notice of PIA’s on-ground affairs, claiming that the aircraft lease agreement had been finalised at a very high rate.
Around 1,200 PIA flights were cancelled between August and November causing a loss of over Rs410 million. PIA had taken three engines on lease for $300 per hour each while its own engines, which are ready for installation in Singapore and Amman, were not being brought back.
PIA had acquired two jumbos recently but several grounded aircraft could have been repaired for use by spending the same amount of money.
The employees added that contradictory figures submitted by the PIA chairman needed to be seriously examined. Comments on the issue were sought from the PIA chairman, which were later sent to the applicant. After going through the comments submitted by PIA and the reaction received from TIP, the chief justice passed the order.
The court order states, “PIA claims that no irregularity or illegality has been committed in purchasing and obtaining dry lease of aircraft, while on the other hand Transparency International Pakistan has alleged serious illegality and irregularities in purchasing and obtaining lease by PIA. Therefore, it would be appropriate if this case is fixed in court and treated as a petition under article 184 (3) of the Constitution.”
Published in The Express Tribune, September 14th, 2012.
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