KARACHI – The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday granted post-arrest bail to a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) officer in a case pertaining to the fake degree scandal.The SHC bench ordered that PIA engineer Muhammad Sher Iqbal be released on bail. The appellant’s lawyer stated before the court that his client was sacked from service by the national flag carrier and arrested on charges of having obtained the job on a bogus degree. Sher Iqbal was subjected to vengeance, he claimed. The counsel pleaded with the bench to grant his client post-arrest bail and order his release. On Jan 29, a pilot and five officers of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) were arrested by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in fake pilots’ licence scandal. The FIA corporate crime circle completed its investigation into the issuance of fake licences to pilots. Overall six arrests have been made including a pilot and five officers of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) by the agency’s corporate crime circle. The accused were allegedly involved in the issuance of Commercial Pilot Licence (CPL) and Airline Transport Pilot Licence (ATPL) by CAA on the basis of fake pilot licence exam.

Published in The Nation, Feb 11, 2021