Roosevelt, Scribe hotels: Aviation Division releases Rs275m to PIACL for its legal team without approval: AGP report

KARACHI: The Aviation Division has made a payment of a whopping Rs 275 million to Pakistan International Airlines Corporation Limited (PIACL) for its legal team, contesting cases of Roosevelt Hotel in New York, the USA, and Scribe Hotel in Paris, France, in B-VI Court without approval, raising transparency issues.

According to the AGP audit report, the Aviation Division released a whopping amount of Rs 275 million to PIACL to pay fees and legal charges to the lawyers and attorneys without proper consultation and approval.

The payment was made in connection with the ongoing legal battle over Roosevelt Hotel in the USA and Hotel Scribed in Paris, France, in B-VI Court, an audit report conducted by the Auditor General of Pakistan (AGP) for the financial year 2021-22 said. As per the Rules of Business, 1973, Rules 14(1)(g) stated that the Law, Justice, and Human Rights Division shall be consulted before the appointment of a legal adviser in any division or any office or corporation under its administrative control, and the Law, Justice, and Human Rights Division will make its recommendations after consultation with the Attorney General.

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However, the matter was not referred to the Ministry of Law and Justice for seeking advice either, despite the Planning Commission’s suggestion that it would be more appropriate to do so, raising serious concerns.

The Finance Division’s Serial No. 9 (23) of Annex-I empowers Ministries/Divi-sions to incur expenditure on law charges in consultation with the Law Division, but the Aviation Division failed to follow this process as well.

Even the Finance secretary recommended that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) must be consulted before making any further payment, but the Aviation Division disregarded this advice and released a whopping amount of Rs 275 million without consulting with Law & Justice Division and NAB, the audit report said.

On the other hand, the Aviation Division attempted to defend itself by stating that the Law secretary was a committee member that approved the proceedings, and a letter was written to the NAB for advice. However, the audit report confirmed no letter on record confirming that NAB’s advice was sought.

In its audit report, the AGP strongly recommended initiating an inquiry into the matter and fixing the responsibility. This revelation has raised serious concerns about transparency and accountability in the Aviation Division for this irregular payment.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023