Hearing the case, Accountability Court Judge Muhammad Bashir indicted Abbasi, Muhammad Irfan Elahi, former secretary Civil Aviation, M Raheel Ahmed, chief HR officer, Musharraf Rasool Cyan, former chief executive officer (CEO) PIA, and Tariq Mehmood Pasha in illegal appointment of Musharraf Rasool Cyan as CEO PIA.
Former governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mehtab Abbasi was appointed as aviation adviser to then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in 2017. After a few months of Abbasi's appointment, Dr Musharraf Rasool Cyan was appointed as CEO of the PIA. But a year later, the Supreme Court declared Dr Cyan's appointment as illegal after hearing a case filed by the PIA Officers Association challenging his appointment.
Justice Ijazul Ahsan, who headed a three-member bench of the Supreme Court that delivered the verdict, had said, "Mehtab Abbasi was a party to the appointment."
The NAB's executive board meeting (EBM) in March this year had decided to file a reference in the Accountability Court in this regard. The suspects were accused of appointing Dr Cyan in violation of the rules by misusing their authority, leading to significant losses to the national exchequer.
The defense counsel requested the court to fix next hearing in November but the court turned down his request and adjourned the hearing till October 29. The accused including Abbasi denied all the charges after which the court summoned two witnesses including Arshad Ali and Muhammad Mehsood Tajwar to record their statement on October 29.