The TIP asked PIA to confirm if the order had already been placed, as reported in the media, for five new Boeing 777-300ER aircraft for $1.5 billion. - File photo

KARACHI: The Transparency International Pakistan has termed PIA’s decision to procure the five Boeing aircraft without tenders a gross violation of the Public Procurement Rules 2004 and said it could be treated as ‘mis-procurement’.

TIP adviser Adil Gilani said his organisation had written to PIA chief Nadeem Yusufzai asking him to provide copies of the evaluation report and contract agreement under Rule 48.

He alleged that PIA, which lost Rs110 billion over the past three years, had been violating the PPR since long and the latest order was against the laws of the land.

Copies of the letter have been sent to the Public Accounts Committee, ministries of defence and finance, National Accountability Bureau, Auditor General of Pakistan; Supreme Court Registrar and Public Procurement Regulatory Authority.

The TIP asked PIA to confirm if the order had already been placed, as reported in the media, for five new Boeing 777-300ER aircraft for $1.5 billion.

He said that when PIA was negotiating for the purchase of 27 aircraft for $2 billion the then PIA chief, Aijaz Haroon, had assured the TIP in a letter on July 22, 2009 that procurement rules would be followed.

Mr Gilani said the website contained no information about PIA’s 2012 procurement plan. He said PIA had been informed that Article 19 A of 18th Amendment made the right to access of information pertaining to a public authority a fundamental right.