Bahria Town pays for its employees’ Hajj

Every year Bahria Town sends its employees on its own expenses for Hajj.

ISLAMABAD:

Every year Bahria Town sends its employees -- selected by random draw -- on its own expenses for Hajj.

The chief executive of Bahria Town, Malik Riaz, while recording his statement before the FIA Special Investigation Unit, said the company bore the Hajj expenses of 200 people including 32 employees in 2009. In 2010, the real estate giant had sent 248 people for Hajj including 56 employees.

Giving details, Malik Riaz said payment for the air tickets of 200 people was made through cheque of Rs17,500,000 numbered 0191690 dated 4-11-2009 drawn in favour of PIA through his Accounts Manager Ghulam Mustafa.

He also said that payment for the 248 pilgrims was made through a cheque of Rs16,800,000 number 0191721 dated11-10-2010 drawn in the name of PIA and cheque number 0191720 of Rs1,694,000 for PIA and cheque number 0191722 of Rs3,200,000 for Southern Travels Private Limited.

Apart from the airfare, he said, Bahria Town paid the Hajj expenses including transport and boarding in Mina and Arafat for most of the people it had sent for the pilgrimage. The company bore full expenses of its employees.

Regarding the ministry of religious affairs’ claim in its letter that it paid for Bahria Town employees’ stay in Makkah and Madina in 2009 and 2010, Malik Riaz said he was willing to pay the amount from his pocket.

Malik Riaz said that he had paid for the Hajj expenses of Babar Qureshi and his wife. The Hajj visas of Bahria Town employees were processed through the interior ministry’s Private Secretary Raja Javed Iqbal.

He said that he has paid Rs2,552,416 to the religious affairs ministry via cheque number 0191738 for 32 employees (Rs79,763 per head) that went for Hajj in 2009. Similarly, for the year 2010, expenses for the stay in Madina for 56 employees of Bahria Town were paid vide cheque number 0191739 worth Rs644,000.

He said that he stands by his statement given on April 7, 2011. He said that he never had any mala fide intentions in paying expenses for the holy pilgrimage. Malik Riaz said he was willing to pay for the Hajj airfares worth Rs39,194,000, then why not much lesser amount for the boarding expenses for 88 of his employees.

The delay in payment was due to the late receipt of bills from the ministry of religious affairs and others.

Later talking to the media, Malik Riaz said that if sending people for Hajj was a crime, he would continue doing so.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 22^nd, 2013.