Court issues arrest warrants for former CEO PIA in illegal appointment case

ISLAMABAD: An accountability court (AC) in Islamabad on Wednesday has issued arrest warrants for former chief executive officer (CEO) Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) Musharraf Rasool in an illegal appointment case, ARY News reported.

Former aviation advisor, Sardar Mahtab Abbasi appeared before the court of Judge Muhammad Bashir in today’s hearing, while the co-accused former CEO PIA Musharraf Rasool did not show up.

The court while issuing the bailable arrest warrants for Rasool adjourned the further proceedings until September 13.

In 2019, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had filed a reference against Sardar Mehtab Abbasi and other accused over charges of illegal appointments made in the PIA.

The anti-corruption watchdog nominated Mehtab Abbasi, who had also served as a former governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and senior leader of Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N), and Sqn. Ldr (Retd) Muhammad Irfan Elahi in a case related to illegal appointments in PIA.

Musharraf Rasool and Tariq Mehmood Pasha were also among the accused who were nominated in the fresh reference filed by NAB.

According to NAB sources, the reference was filed over the illegal appointment of Musharraf Rasool.

Sardar Mehtab Ahmed Khan Abbasi had been appointed as adviser to the prime minister on aviation during PML-N’s tenure in February 2017.

Whereas, Irfan Elahi had been made PIA acting chairman in addition to his assignment as the-then federal secretary of Aviation Division after being named by the board of directors of the national flag-carrier in December 2016. Later, he had stepped down from his post in May 2018.