PM asks for lease details

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has asked for the details on Biman's lease deal with Kabo Air and leasing airport land to a private company to resolve the conflict between civil aviation minister and a parliamentary body.
The PM has also directed the ministry to provide the civil aviation rules and regulation on leasing or purchasing old aircraft, sources said.
The PM's directive came following a row between the parliamentary standing committee on civil aviation ministry and Civil Aviation Minister GM Quader over permitting 24-year-old aircrafts of Kabo Air for Biman's hajj operation and allowing IPCO a portion of airport's land to build hotels, golf course and country club.
The row came under the spotlight as GM Quader denied to award registration waiver to ageing Boeing 747-200 aircraft of Kabo Air, which Biman leased for the second time last year at a cost of $5,300 per hour mainly for hajj operations.
The parliamentary committee blasted the minister for impeding the initiative by not awarding registration waiver and sticking to the restriction on 20-year-old aircraft for leasing or purchasing for the country.
The committee also alleged that the Australia-based aircraft-leasing firm Ausban Aeronautical originally bid $10,600 for the service; but when the tender box was opened the bid was changed to $9,600 to make it the lowest bid. Orient Thai Airlines offered $9,800.
The Standing committee pointed finger on the family members of the minister for the bid rigging.
In a counter reaction Aviation Minister GM Quader denied involvement of his family members in manipulating tenders for Biman hajj flights terming the accusation "totally false and baseless".
Insiders, however, said the minister did not approve the ageing aircraft based on the allegations of corruption in leasing and using of the plane.
According to Biman officials, the plane was used for about eight months -- nearly 2,200 hours -- on profitable Dhaka-Jeddah and Dhaka-Dammam-Riyadh routes keeping Biman's own aircraft DC-10 idle.
They also alleged that the aircraft was used more than the monthly guaranteed 200 hours to channel the profit to some influential persons.
"As per the allegations I have received, a huge amount of money was involved in the lease of Kabo jets," GM Quader told The Daily Star earlier. However, he declined to name the persons responsible or the money involved in the deal.
Earlier, PM Sheikh Hasina appointed Planning Minister AK Khandaker and her Adviser to Economic Affairs Moshiur Rahman to bridge the gap between GM Quader and the parliamentary body.
The Standing Committee initially asked the ministry to scrap the lease deal of nearly 140 acres of airport land with IPCO but later it changed its position, recommending the ministry to award a portion of land to the company.
Meanwhile, the controversy worsened with Biman Board Chairman Air Marshal (retd) Jamal Uddin Ahmed and standing committee chairman Engineer Mosharraf Hossain claiming that the minister wanted to become the Biman chairman.