Former senator Tariq Azeem on Sunday highlighted corruption in various departments of the PIA that he said was causing loss of billions to the national exchequer annually. The action against the criminal elements involved should be launched after a detailed inquiry, he suggested.
While talking exclusively to Pakistan Today on Sunday, Tariq Azeem pointed out towards corruption in the PIA and said the government should launch an inquiry against the corruption as the state’s national career was going to dogs due to out-of-merit appointments in various departments.
Tariq Azeem said media reports revealed that in 2011 and 2012 various high-ups in the state career including the then secretary defense acquired free tickets worth 0.3 million each in both the years by making their adjustments in the back dates.
He said during the previous tenure when he was assigned the chairmanship of special committee by the Senate’s standing committee on defense, he held sittings with the PIA officials in Karachi and uncovered various gray areas that caused the national exchequer loss worth millions of rupees.
While responding to a question, Azeem was of the view that the PIA officials including the then PIA MD Ijaz Haroon told during a presentation before a specific committee that there were 26,000 employees, however, the original figures were around 22,000.
“A number of PIA officials, many of them working abroad, had been appointed on political recommendations,” Azeem added.
Elaborating further, he said, many of the PIA officials appointed abroad had dual nationalities and were not ready to return back to the country. Some of them were even asked to return and report back but they threatened to tender their resignations.
After 1996, the PIA reinstated hundreds of employees who were deposed by Nawaz Sharif earlier. They were paid Rs 1.2 million each and the total amount paid was around Rs 42 million, he stated. A number of officials received their cheques but did not join their duties causing huge financial loss to the PIA, he added.
On many stations including Sydney and some US states, where there is no direct flight of the PIA, the PIA offices had been set up and the officials appointed there were getting salaries as well, Azeem further commented.
Apparently, the PIA officials were doing marketing there but the outcome was zero, he added.
