Government has permitted Nepal Airlines Corporation (NAC) to send the senior pilot Captain Subarna Awale to Singapore for training who has been deprived of foreign currency smuggling issue. Awale was detained on charge of smuggling around 93,600 US dollar on April 10 but was freed on bail a week later.
Department of Revenue Research, Culture Tourism and Civil Aviation Ministry, Nepal Airlines Corporation and Nepal Civil Aviation Authority has decided to send Captain Awale to Singapore for ‘Simulator’ training.
“The four bodies have agreed to send Captain Awale to training,” the affiliate said. Awale is going to Singapore from the corporation’s plane on Friday afternoon at 11:00 pm who will spend a week there. According to the officer, Awale will spend 14,000 to 16,000 dollars (14 lakhs to 16 lakhs) for training. In addition to this, he has arranged 200$ (20 thousand rupees) per day. Awale will spend at least 1 week in Singapore.
According to the sources, the agency has allowed permission to send the person to training in the emphasis of Sugat Ratna Kansakar, after receiving the ‘no objection certificate’ letter from the Department of Revenue Investigation (DRI), the corporation asked for the permission with the Ministry of Finance to send him flight license training. The letter stated, “Captain Awale is kept under the guard and it is not objection to sending him abroad for training.” With the letter of revenue, the corporation asked for further permission with the Tourism Ministry. Then the Ministry sent the aviation authority for sending the ‘strict conditions’ to send captain for training and for further processing. Authority has given the ‘Green Signal’ after three weeks.
Earlier, the corporation had decided to send Awale in Singapore but various officials decided not to do so and the training was halted as it was against the law but the controversy has aroused as same committee decided to send him for training recently. The high officials of tourism ministry said, strict condition has been made in order to send him for training.
According to a senior official of the Civil Aviation Authority, Captain Awale has been banned from flying aircraft due to the mention of the involvement in the activities like smuggling in the airports. The above rules prohibit such accused to enter the airport.
Awale, 56, who started his job in the corporation by flying a Twinotter about 30 years ago, then as the trainer Pilot had started flying ‘Boeing 757’. For the last two years, he was working as a senior captain of the ‘Airbus 320’.
