Misuse of govt choppers: NAB re-issues notice to Imran for August 7

PESHAWAR: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Friday re-issued call up notice to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan to appear before the combined investigation team on August 7 in the case of allegedly misusing the two helicopters of the provincial government.

An official of the NAB KP confirmed to The News that another call up notice was issued to Imran Khan, the prime minister-in-waiting, to appear before the team on August 7.

On July 18, the NAB had made security arrangements around its regional office in Peshawar, but Imran Khan did not appear before the investigation team.

Instead, he submitted an application through his lawyer Babar Awan that he would join investigation after the July 25 general election. The official said the request was accepted and now the notice has been re-issued as per the date mentioned in the application.

The NAB has summoned Imran Khan in connection with an inquiry into the alleged misuse of KP government’s helicopters for private visits, causing loss of millions of rupees to the provincial exchequer.

The NAB KP director general started the inquiry against Imran Khan and former chief minister Pervez Khattak on the direction of NAB Chairman, retired Justice Javed Iqbal for unofficial use of two government helicopters - MI-17 and Ecureuil - by misusing authority.

As per the official communiqué issued by the NAB, there is documentary evidence that Imran Khan paid Rs2.1 million for using the MI-17 and Ecureuil helicopters of the KP government as the cost of total use of 74 hours.

This amounts to Rs28,000 spent for every hour the helicopters were used, it said. The NAB report claimed that had Imran Khan used a private company’s helicopters, it would have cost him an hourly fare of Rs1 million to Rs1.2 million for the MI-17, and Rs0.5m to Rs0.6m for the Ecureuil.

During a party meeting, Imran Khan had denied using official helicopters of the PTI-led KP government for personal use.

In a statement, the PTI had welcomed the NAB investigation into alleged misuse of helicopter, arguing that it always supported fair investigations.

The KP government had earlier stated that Imran Khan had never used any official helicopter for his private or personal use.

In February this year, the KP government spokesman had said that since coming into power in 2013 it had not used the helicopters for any purpose other than official business.

Earlier, the NAB had also called Pervez Khattak and some administrative secretaries for inquiry in the helicopters’ misuse case.