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PIA gave Rs10m gifts to Saudi officials: report
By Bhagwandas | From the Newspaper
KARACHI: The Pakistan International Airlines gave ‘gifts’ worth over Rs10 million to Saudi officials to ensure smooth operation of its Haj flights last year and to get fines and penalties of over Rs140 million waived, says a report.
Sources said the report was prepared by PIA’s chief in Saudi Arabia Shahbaz Ahmed and submitted on Sept 18 to the Federal Investigation Agency, which is conducting an inquiry to determine how the “gifts/giveaways” were purchased and who were their recipients.
According to the report, the-then PIA chief in Saudi Arabia, Maj (retd) Khurram Mushtaq, had obtained approval from the head office for the purchase of gifts of over 337,100 Saudi riyals (about Rs10 million) for their distribution among officials/staff of General Authority of Civil Aviation (Gaca), PPMDC and Immigration and Customs to ensure smooth Haj operations. The report says fines of about six million Saudi riyals were expected to be imposed on the PIA by Gaca but were waived due to PIA officials` “close and effective” interaction with “officials/staff of the authorities” concerned.
“These giveaways were very instrumental in getting waivers of fine of over 6.083 million Saudi riyals (Rs140 million) and also soften their attitude for PIA in allocation of bays for our flights on a priority basis to ensure timely departure/processing of PIA Haj flights,” says the report.
A fine of 200,000 Saudi riyals (Rs4.8 million) was also imposed on Interior Minister Rehman Malik`s special flight — PK 7412 — that landed at Jeddah on Nov 11 last year, much after the deadline. The PIA managed to get “waiver of fine on this unprecedented serious violation only because of close contacts and influence on authorities concerned”.
The report, however, says that it “cannot disclose the details of individuals to whom these giveaways were given … all these giveaways were distributed through coordinators. Non-disclosure of this sensitive information falls under provision of Para 14 regarding Exception of Public Procurement Regulatory Authority Rules”.
The sources said that the gifts/giveaways distributed by the PIA coordinators — M.A. Zurmani (P No: 39385) and Shah M. Jamali (P No: 39380) — included carpets, home decoration pieces, Blackberry phones, sunglasses (Police), pens (Mount Blanc), sunglasses (American Cap), gift collections, sunglasses (Cartier), pens (Cartier), and perfumes, etc.
When contacted, PIA Managing Director Captain Nadeem Yusufzai said that he was not aware of any bribe/gifts given to the Saudi officials last year. He said he, however, had heard that an inquiry was going on but neither did he know its details nor was interested in it.
“I will rather look forward and proceed than to waste my time on what my predecessor may have/or not have done,” he remarked.
Mr Yusufzai insisted that no gifts/giveaways or bribe were being paid to the Saudi officials this year.
http://www.dawn.com/2011/10/16/pia-gave-rs10m-gifts-to-saudi-officials-report.html
By Bhagwandas | From the Newspaper
KARACHI: The Pakistan International Airlines gave ‘gifts’ worth over Rs10 million to Saudi officials to ensure smooth operation of its Haj flights last year and to get fines and penalties of over Rs140 million waived, says a report.
Sources said the report was prepared by PIA’s chief in Saudi Arabia Shahbaz Ahmed and submitted on Sept 18 to the Federal Investigation Agency, which is conducting an inquiry to determine how the “gifts/giveaways” were purchased and who were their recipients.
According to the report, the-then PIA chief in Saudi Arabia, Maj (retd) Khurram Mushtaq, had obtained approval from the head office for the purchase of gifts of over 337,100 Saudi riyals (about Rs10 million) for their distribution among officials/staff of General Authority of Civil Aviation (Gaca), PPMDC and Immigration and Customs to ensure smooth Haj operations. The report says fines of about six million Saudi riyals were expected to be imposed on the PIA by Gaca but were waived due to PIA officials` “close and effective” interaction with “officials/staff of the authorities” concerned.
“These giveaways were very instrumental in getting waivers of fine of over 6.083 million Saudi riyals (Rs140 million) and also soften their attitude for PIA in allocation of bays for our flights on a priority basis to ensure timely departure/processing of PIA Haj flights,” says the report.
A fine of 200,000 Saudi riyals (Rs4.8 million) was also imposed on Interior Minister Rehman Malik`s special flight — PK 7412 — that landed at Jeddah on Nov 11 last year, much after the deadline. The PIA managed to get “waiver of fine on this unprecedented serious violation only because of close contacts and influence on authorities concerned”.
The report, however, says that it “cannot disclose the details of individuals to whom these giveaways were given … all these giveaways were distributed through coordinators. Non-disclosure of this sensitive information falls under provision of Para 14 regarding Exception of Public Procurement Regulatory Authority Rules”.
The sources said that the gifts/giveaways distributed by the PIA coordinators — M.A. Zurmani (P No: 39385) and Shah M. Jamali (P No: 39380) — included carpets, home decoration pieces, Blackberry phones, sunglasses (Police), pens (Mount Blanc), sunglasses (American Cap), gift collections, sunglasses (Cartier), pens (Cartier), and perfumes, etc.
When contacted, PIA Managing Director Captain Nadeem Yusufzai said that he was not aware of any bribe/gifts given to the Saudi officials last year. He said he, however, had heard that an inquiry was going on but neither did he know its details nor was interested in it.
“I will rather look forward and proceed than to waste my time on what my predecessor may have/or not have done,” he remarked.
Mr Yusufzai insisted that no gifts/giveaways or bribe were being paid to the Saudi officials this year.
http://www.dawn.com/2011/10/16/pia-gave-rs10m-gifts-to-saudi-officials-report.html
