The Accountability Court Tuesday recorded the statement of a prosecution witness in the illegal appointment case of former chief executive officer of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA). The Accountability Court judge Muhammad Bashir while hearing the case recorded the statement of prosecution witness Muhammad Mehsud Tajwar while the defence counsel also conducted his cross-examination.

Senior leader of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and former advisor on aviation Sardar Mehtab Ahmed Khan Abbasi and others are accused in the case. The court will record the statement of another prosecution witness Robina Nazline on the next hearing to be held on Nov 26.

The same court on September 30 indicted Abbasi, Muhammad Irfan Elahi, former secretary Civil Aviation, M Raheel Ahmed, chief HR officer, Musharraf Rasool Cyan, former chief executive officer (CEO) PIA, and Tariq Mehmood Pasha in illegal appointment of Musharraf Rasool Cyan as CEO PIA. Former governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mehtab Abbasi was appointed as aviation adviser to then prime minister Nawaz Sharif in 2017. After a few months of Abbasi's appointment, Dr Musharraf Rasool Cyan was appointed as CEO of the PIA. But a year later, the Supreme Court declared Cyan's appointment as illegal after hearing a case filed by the PIA Officers Association challenging his appointment.

Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan, who headed a three-member bench of the Supreme Court that delivered the verdict, had said, "Mehtab Abbasi was a party to the appointment." The NAB's executive board meeting in March this year had decided to file a reference in the Accountability Court in this regard. The accused appointed Dr Cyan allegedly in violation of the rules by misusing their authority, leading to significant loss to the national exchequer.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019