ISLAMABAD: The Senate’s Spe­cial Committee on Pakistan Inte­rnational Airlines (PIA) formed on Thursday a three-member subcommittee to look into the controversial sale of the airline’s Airbus A-310 to a German firm in December last year in violation of the Public Procu­rement Regulatory Authority rules.

The subcommittee has been tasked with submitting to the committee a report on the matter within 30 days. It will also examine the role played by the PIA board and the civil aviation department in the episode.

The subcommittee has been mandated to get relevant information on the issue from the National Accountability Bureau and Federal Investigation Authority, which are also investigating the case.

Airline’s statement reveals aircraft was sent to Leipzig even before opening of tenders about it

The issue had been raised first in the Senate by Senators Saleem Man­dviwala, Shahi Syed, Yousuf Badini and Muhammad Yousaf, after which Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani referred it to the committee on PIA.

Following an unsatisfactory res­ponse from the PIA management on the issue, the committee’s chairman, Senator Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah, formed the subcommittee that comprises Senators Nouman Wazir Khattak, Tahir Hussain Mashhadi and Farhatullah Babar.

According to a written statement submitted by the PIA management, the proposal about grounding and deregistering the aircraft was initiated by the airline’s former director for procurement, retired Air Cdre Imran Akhtar, then on deputation from the Pakistan Air Force (PAF).

The proposal was appro­ved by the-then acting chief executive officer of the airline, Bernd Hildenbrand, a German citizen.

Mr Hildenbrand has since left Pakistan after his name was taken off the exit control list in view of a waiver given by the interior ministry under circumstances that remain to be explained fully.

When asked whether or not a show-cause notice had been issued to Air Cdre Akhtar, a brother of former chief of the Inter-Services Intelligence Rizwan Akhtar, Aviation Secretary Muhammad Irfan Elahi told the committee that Mr Akhtar has already retired from the PAF and that the defence ministry could not proceed against him.

Senator Babar objected to this stance and said that under the PAF Act measures might be taken against any officer even years after his or her retirement. Recently the PAF made changes in the act giving it a retrospective effect.

The PIA statement also revealed that the aircraft had been sent to Leipzig, Germany, even before the opening of tenders about it. The tenders floated in November last year mentioned Leipzig as the place where its engines were located.

Approval for disposing of the plane’s airframe was not obtained as per the rules of the airline, the statement added.

Pointing to the low price at which it had been sold, Senator Wazir said selling the aircraft as scrap in Pakis­tan would have fetched more money.

Senator Mashhadi clai­med the aircraft was sold for half the price of its scrap. “To add insult to injury, the German firm is now demanding 204,000 euros as parking fee, more than its selling price,” he added.

The senators observed that permission had not been sought to sell the flight-worthy aircraft, no agreements had been signed and the airline did not receive any advance payment for its sale.

The Airbus A-310 was flown to Malta to be used in the filming of a movie and then flown to a museum in Germany.

The museum expressed interest in acquiring the aircraft last year, after it had completed 21 years of flying, according to PIA.

Published in Dawn, October 27th, 2017