KARACHI: The Shaheen Air International (SAI) is paying some dues to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) in instalments about which the two have agreed upon, according to SAI representative Zohaib Hassan.

Responding to Dawn queries, he said these were regulatory dues and were payable as per routine against services, such as parking, landing and route navigation.

He was of the view that non-payment of dues could not be defined as fraud in any sense. It was a default on payment and there was nothing criminal about it, he added.

Mr Hassan said that the SAI had fallen behind on payment of CAA dues on several occasions also in the past, but it had always paid off its dues / arrears. He said the CAA had never approached any prosecuting authority, including the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), to take action against the SAI.

To another question, he said that SAI owners Kashif Sehbai and Ehsan Sehbai were not going anywhere as claimed or feared by the CAA, adding that they were respected citizens, providing services and working for betterment of the aviation sector in the country.

Referring to CAA actions taken against the SAI for recovery of dues, he said it was a selective prosecution as many existing and past airlines had also defaulted but similar course was not pursued against them by the CAA.

Published in Dawn, August 29th, 2018