Former Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan’s spokesperson on Wednesday rubbished the report related to the removal of former Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Bernd Hildenbrand’s name from the exit control list (ECL) after receiving guarantees from the German embassy and on the request of the former interior minister.
“Actually, the interior minister did not favour the idea of allowing the former CEO to leave the country without being held accountable for charges of alleged corruption,” the spokesperson informed. “The permission was granted on the intervention of the Prime Minister’s Office,” the spokesperson added.
The spokesperson further revealed that the German ambassador had contacted the foreign affairs ministry and had given assurances that Hildenbrand would return to Pakistan after one month.
“The Foreign Office made recommendations in this regard, after which the secretary to prime minister met Nisar and conveyed former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s directions to allow the former PIA CEO to leave for Germany,” the spokesperson added.
On Tuesday, a Senate sub-committee was informed that Hildenbrand was allowed to leave the country on the request of former Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar. As a result, the Senate’s Special Committee on PIA constituted a three-member subcommittee to probe the controversial sale of PIA’s Airbus A-310 to a German firm in sheer violation of the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority rules.
Officials from the interior ministry also presented a copy of a letter to the subcommittee bearing Nisar’s signature.
