ISLAMABAD - The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) top management in its continued endeavours to purge the corporation of corrupt elements has helped in arresting an officer allegedly involved in embezzlement of millions of rupees.
   It was brought to the notice of top management of PIA that some officials of the Procurement and Logistics Department were involved in corruption which led to arrest of Shahid Ejaz, deputy general manager Procurement and Logistics Department by the law enforcement agencies.
   The officer was accused of corruption of millions of rupees during the procurement of spare parts for different aircrafts, said a press release on Sunday.  The Procurement and Logistics Department of the PIA procures spare parts worth billions of rupees annually as the procurement volume stood at Rs 6.74 billion in 2013.
   In recent past on the directions of the Special Assistant to the PM Shujaat Azeem, 338 PIA officials holding fake educational degrees were shown the door.     On the request of the Special Assistant to the PM, the Air Chief Marshal released his five best officers for streamlining the process of procurement and logistics in the PIA.
   The team brought from the PAF on deputation to PIA Procurement and Logistics Department would be headed by Air Commodore Imran who has an experience of 28 years in logistics, material management and inventory control.
   The team had been managing the F-16 Logistics Management System and would implement automated real time inventory management in the PIA.    The Special Assistant to PM also directed that spares of aircraft should be procured on merit with transparency and only through Original Equipment Manufacturers.    Furthermore, enterprise resource planning was being implemented all across the Airlines including the procurement function which required people who had the experience of such automation.    At the same time, he has decided to separate the Technical Procurement Part of the overall Logistics setup from its current setup and attach it to the Maintenance Repair and Overhaul (MRO) setup.     The move would not only help transform MRO into an independent self-financing entity, turn the Procurement and Logistics Department automated but it would also put an end to the past practices where aircraft spare parts were procured at higher rates and through fake companies.   The PIA top management is committed to achieve highest level of transparency at all levels in its affairs. Shujaat Azeem also took notice of the fact that the Procurement and Logistics Department purchased Ground Power Units (GPUs) of 110 volts many years back which were rotting in the stores. The Department did not even bother to return these GPUs to their vendors and get back the paid amount.