Wilson John
The Auditor General of Pakistan, in its latest report, has questioned the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) for unauthorisedly setting up a commercial company called Kamra Aviation Industries
Limited (KAIL).
Kamra Aviation Industries Limited (KAIL) is a self-sustainable commercial organization providing world-class Aviation products and services to the Defence and Industrial Sectors around the world. Our facility is equipped with modern state-of-the-art machines and established processes.
Senior PAF leadership, including the Chief of Air Staff, Zaheer Ahmed Baber Sidhu, has been hit by a massive corruption scandal recently. Sidhu has been accused of nepotism, inefficiency and corruption by whistleblowers within the force. At least 13 officers, including several senior officers, face house arrest and are underdoing court martial proceedings.
The audit pointed out that the air force had no authority to set up the commercial venture. Under Para-6 of the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex Board (PACB) Ordinance 2000 “The function of the Board shall be to manage, organize or as the case may be to re-organize within the existing financial resources, any factory and administer the affairs of the factories and to run them on sound commercial lines to adequately meet, during war and peace, the needs of the defence of the country.”
The decision of the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex Board (PACB) Kamra to establish a subsidiary company. was not covered under the existing PACB Ordinance 2000. The audit said the setting up of KAIL was irregular. The board is headed by Air Vice Marshal Nadeem Akhtar Khan.
The board informed the audit that it had taken approval from the Prime Minister. But the audit declined to accept the reply.
March 27,2024
Wilson John edits The Pakistan Military Monitor