Pakistan, July 27 -- ISLAMABAD - The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has announced its decision to recover Rs920 million in outstanding Federal Excise Duty (FED) from Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) after the airline's privatization.

This announcement was made by FBR Member Inland Revenue (Operations), Dr. Hamid Ateeq Sarwar, during a recent session of the Public Accounts Committee. The meeting discussed longstanding audit objections raised by the Auditor General of Pakistan over the past 10 to 15 years.

Officials from the Auditor General's office stressed that the FED must be recovered because it was collected from passengers, not given to PIA as a government grant. Therefore, the amount legally belongs to the national treasury. ...