Over the past decade, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) allegedly distributed free plane tickets worth Rs100 million to bureaucrats and politicians, incurring massive losses to the national exchequer.
The matter was addressed by the Supreme Court of Pakistan, which ordered the PIA to launch an audit. The audit revealed huge irregularities that have been prevalent for the past 10 years.
PIA Distributed Free Tickets
Details of the irregularities, as circulating on media, reveal that the PIA distributed Rs100 million worth of plane tickets amongst government officials and politicians over the last ten years, at the expense of the national exchequer.
It was discovered that the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) spent Rs18.7 million on free tickets for domestic and international traveling between July 2016 and September 2018
The audit report, submitted by the PIA to the Supreme Court of Pakistan, also brought to light the names of the officials who were responsible for the irregularities that caused massive losses to the national flag carrier.
The audit report revealed that during the last ten years, free tickets and benefits were handed out to industrialists, former PIA chairmen, pilots, technocrats, businessmen, politicians, bureaucrats, and former federal secretaries.
The audit report suggested that the individuals responsible for incurring Rs100 million worth of losses to the national exchequer must be held accountable, alongside recovering the money of the free PIA tickets. However, the spokesperson of the PIA said that a response to the audit report has been submitted to the Supreme Court with regards to recovering the money for free tickets.
Earlier in February, it was discovered that the Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) spent Rs18.7 million on free tickets for domestic and international traveling between July 2016 and September 2018.
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Reports further revealed that in 2016, 122 passengers were provided free of cost tickets on 58 flights, causing a loss of Rs2.4 million to the national carrier. In 2017, 356 passengers were provided free tickets on 157 flights, increasing the losses to Rs5.6 million, while in the next eight months, 356 free tickets were provided on 124 flights, causing Rs10.8 million worth of losses to the PIA.