KP govt admits Imran’s use of helicopter

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government admitted Sunday that Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan used government helicopter for up to 74 hours.

The provincial government is facing criticism for allowing PTI chief to use the helicopter, which under the aviation laws cannot be used for political purposes.

On Friday, Chairman National Accountability Bureau (NAB) directed DG NAB KP to initiate inquiry into the matter. The communiqué also stated that Chief Minister KP Pervaiz Khattak misused his power.

A news story in The News on Jan 30, revealed that the KP administration spent millions of rupees on Imran Khan's use of the helicopters.

The documents obtained by the newspaper show that the PTI chief used the KP government's helicopters free of charge for a total of 74 hours to travel approximately 18,000 kilometres. The provincial government recorded in its books a total expense of Rs2.1 million at approximately Rs28,865 per hour for Imran Khan's 40 trips on the two helicopters -- an Mi-171 and an Ecureuil.

Similar trips using a private helicopter would have cost the PTI chief tens of millions of rupees, according to estimates. Imran used the Mi-171 for 21 hours 50 minutes on 12 trips amounting to a recorded expense of Rs1,270,307. Similarly, he used the Ecureuil helicopter 28 times for a total of 52 hours and 5 minutes, amounting to a recorded expense of Rs836,875.

Combined, Imran used both helicopters for a total of 73 hours and 55 minutes, resulting in an expense of Rs2,107,181 recorded by the provincial government. The PTI chief, whose party governs Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, used the helicopters to fly to and from Banigala, Islamabad, Mardan, Peshawar, Abbottabad, Haripur, Swat, Nathiagali, Kohat, Battagram and Chakdara, among other places.

Sources said that not only Imran but PTI's other leaders including Awn Chaudhry, Faisal Javed Khan and Abrar-ul-Haq also travelled along with the PTI chief.

The law does not allow personal use of official resources but CM Khattak used the helicopter to attend the wedding ceremony of a close relative of Higher Education Minister Mushtaq Ghani.

It is unclear in what capacity did Imran use the government's helicopters, as the party chief neither holds any position in the KP administration nor he is a member of the provincial assembly.