ISLAMABAD: Chairman of the National Accounta­bility Bureau (NAB) retired Justice Javed Iqbal on Tues­day tasked its Rawalpindi bureau office to investigate the reports about the closure of Pakistan Interna­tional Airlines’ (PIA’s) Roosevelt Hotel in New York from October 31.

According to the anti-graft watchdog, NAB’s Rawalpindi region director general Irfan Mangi will investigate not only reasons behind the closure of the hotel situated in Manhattan but also behind the reported losses. The office has been directed to fix responsibility on officials for allegedly showing “carelessness in performing their national duties” and failing to turn the hotel into a profitable entity.

However, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz, addressing a press conference on Tuesday, refuted the reports that the government had any intention to sell the hotel when the value of the property was down amid coronavirus pandemic. A consultant would be hired to run the hotel whose business had been hit hard due to the virus outbreak, he said.

“At present when the value of property is down due to Covid-19 pandemic, the government has no plan to sell the hotel,” he stated.

The minister explained that the hotel was suffering losses due to which the government had to pay back debt of $129,000. “We have paid debt of $129,000 and got complete ownership of the hotel,” he announced, adding that as all outstanding dues of the hotel employees had also been cleared “we will utilise the hotel in a better manner”.

On Monday, CNN and other US media outlets published a statement by PIA confirming the closure. “Due to the current, unprecedented environment and the continued uncertain impact from COVID-19, the owners of The Roosevelt Hotel have made the difficult decision to close the hotel and the associates were notified this week,” PIA said.

“The iconic hotel, along with most of New York City, has experienced very low demand and as a result the hotel will cease operations before the end of the year. There are currently no plans for the building beyond the scheduled closing,” the statement added.

The Roosevelt Hotel also announced it would shut its doors on guests permanently on October 31. “Due to the current economic impacts, after almost 100 years of welcoming guests to The Grand Dame of New York, The Roosevelt Hotel, is regretfully closing its doors permanently as of October 31, 2020,” it said. For guests with future reservations, its website said, the hotel is “working on alternative accommodations”. However, it later removed the notification from its website, which is now accepting reservation requests only till Oct 29, while Oct 30 and 31 are crossed out on its reservation site, as are all dates in November and December. Efforts to book a room in January and February 2021 were also rejected.

Anwar Iqbal in New York also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, October 14th, 2020