PIA's missing plane taken to Germany by ex-CEO facing corruption charges

The former CEO, a German national, was placed on exit control list as he was facing corruption charges

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), said on Wednesday that the former acting chief executive officer (CEO) of the airline, Bernd Hildenbrand, a German national, had taken PIA’s ‘missing’ plane home while leaving Pakistan. PIA confirmed that it had not sold its missing A-310 aircraft to any museum in Germany and the one present there belonged to them.
 

This issue of ‘missing’ PIA plane was raised on Tuesday when Sheikh Aftab Ahmad, Pakistan’s Minister for Parliamentary Affairs said that Hildenbrand had taken the plane without any permission. According to a report in Dawn, PIA spokesman Mashhood Tajwar said that that the missing aircraft was not a Boeing plane but Airbus-A-310 and it was in Germany.

“The plane had been chartered by a British company for picturising a movie in Malta following which the aircraft flew to Germany”, Tajwar added. The plane is believed to be in the German city of Leipzig.

According to a report of Pakistan Today, the A-310 aircraft was removed from the PIA’s fleet after being declared unfit for use anymore. The plane had been in use for 30 years and had completed its flying hours and was no longer airworthy. 
 

In December 2016, the Pakistan People’s Party had already submitted a notice in the Senate against the ‘illegal sale’ of the aircraft to a German company. In March this year, a parliamentary panel disapproved of the PIA’s decision to sell its aircraft to a German museum, stating that it against their rules. 

Cyan's appointment followed the removal of the carrier's German chief executive Bernd Hildenbrand, who was ousted in April after authorities launched a corruption investigation into leasing of planes from a Sri Lankan carrier.

According to Pakistani newspaper Tribune, Hildenbrand's name was on the exit control list over these corruption charges.
Pakistan People's Party (PPP) senator, Saleem Mandviwalla told Tribune, that the plane was worth millions of dollars but was sold to the museum for just Pakistani Rs 5.3 million.