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The appointment of Musharraf Rasool Cyan as the Chief Executive Officer of PIA in mid-2017 raised many eyebrows, and his activities at the company have remained subject to controversy ever since.
Mr. Musharraf, previously a civil servant and an academic, had no experience of managing such a large business, let alone being the top executive at an airline company. Sources inside PIA have revealed that Mr. Musharraf’s appointment has been under great scrutiny ever since Mr. Asad Umar, during the Parliamentary Committee meeting held at PIA Head Office boardroom around soon after his appointment, called for Mr. Musharraf’s resume. He conducted an on-the-spot review in the presence of the entire committee and concluded that there was not a single line in Mr. Musharraf’s resume that qualified him for the job of CEO at PIA.
NAB is busy running a major inquiry in relation to Mr. Musharraf’s appointment and related activities, as directed by the Chief Justice of Pakistan, while the High Courts of Sindh and Islamabad have been hearing cases against him owing to his dubious, political appointment. The Auditor General issued a report in May 2018 recommending his immediate termination, but he managed to hang on with the support of the PML-N bureaucracy network.
In a bid to survive, Mr. Musharraf’s dysfunctional behavior at PIA has resulted in him having the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) removed from his post for highlighting the false financial numbers being reported to the Board of Directors and stopping certain unjustified payments. He has also made previous attempts to remove the Head of Internal Audit who had identified certain misappropriations that Mr. Musharraf had approved. But on that occasion, the Audit Committee had overruled him.
Following up from there, Mr. Musharraf has now terminated the employment contract of the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of PIA, Zia Qadir Qureshi, rather abruptly. The appointment of Mr. Qureshi as company COO had been based on his impressive track record of leading business transformations for prestigious global companies, including Australia’s largest airline and flag carrier, Qantas Airways, as well as management and advisory assignments for Australia’s Jet Star and Libya’s Afriqiyah Airways. However, Mr. Musharraf made up some grounds that Mr. Qureshi’s performance was unsatisfactory by conducting a review of Mr. Qureshi’s performance in his absence and without any discussion with him or the Board.
The reality of Mr. Qureshi’s termination is quite different though, well-informed sources from the company have revealed. Mr. Musharraf’s questionable plans and activities had faced strong opposition from Mr. Qureshi. Mr. Musharraf had tried to take control of the aircraft fleet acquisition process that was successful in progress under Mr. Qureshi’s leadership and as per rules and regulations. Out of the blue, Mr. Musharraf formed a fleet acquisition committee for the purpose, but incredibly, none of the committee members had any experience of acquiring commercial planes, none whatsoever.
Mr. Qureshi, the ousted COO, had also led the development of PIA’s Strategic Business Plan to turn the company around which was the first successful plan in over a decade by PIA. The Board of Directors praised these efforts which were duly recorded in the Board minutes, and in turn, this plan was the basis upon which the Prime Minister and Ministry of Finance approved a massive financial restructuring, thus giving PIA another lease of life. His sudden dismissal, no doubt, raises many more questions than it answers.
In the Supreme Court proceedings that are on foot in relation to the suo motu notice taken by the Chief Justice, one extraordinary thing that stands out is that Mr. Musharraf has lied to the Chief Justice regarding his salary and certain expenses being incurred in the markhor change of livery, reliable sources have revealed.
The Chief Justice has also fined him Rs2.4 million for mismanagement or misappropriation of PIA funds in relation to the Air Safari that went terribly wrong and had resulted in massive inconvenience to the normal customers who were left waiting for hours at Skardu airport as shown in the video that went viral last month. The Chief Justice also ordered that the new government should review Mr. Musharraf’s appointment on a priority basis and make a determination.
In a recent press release, dated July 11, 2018, PALPA, the pilots’ association, has expressed great appreciation and gratefulness to the Chief Justice for his suo motu notice and actions regarding malpractices and inefficiencies in the national flag carrier. It is now up to the newly appointed government to carefully review the appointment of Mr. Musharraf and the overnight dismissal of Mr. Qureshi, as a first step in setting the national flag carrier in order.
