$500m corruption in PIA, says PTI

The tale of corruption in PIA continues with signing of an agreement to purchase five 777 Boeing aircraft for $1.5 billion, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) Information Secretary Shafqat Mehmood said on Saturday. He said that the entire process was correctly questioned by the Transparency International, which believed that $500 million kickbacks were taken in the deal. According to it, an exorbitant price of $300 million was agreed upon, which was around 50 percent higher than the market price. Corruption by the PIA management with support of its political masters was also visible from the fact that this deal was never advertised and PPRA rules were not followed, Mehmood said. The PTI information secretary said that inordinate hurry in finalising the purchase was also visible.
In 21 short days, the deal was finalised, which was unprecedented in aviation history, he said. Mehmood said that purchase of new aircraft had to go through a lengthy process of approvals, including working out details of configuration, testing under extreme weather conditions, particularly summers and compatibility with the existing repair and maintenance facilities. The PTI leader said that special attention was paid to issues such as conformity with the existing fleet to minimise overhead costs. None of this was done, which in itself was a testimony to corruption, he said. The deal was rushed through to take huge kickbacks, Mehmood said, adding that the leadership of a country whose economy was in serious downturn, whose revenues were so low that it was effectively bankrupt, continued with its massive corruption.