"Roosevelt Hotel" victim of conspiracy

 

The Manhattan area of ​​New York City, USA, is considered to be the most expensive area in the world, where the PIA-owned Rose Welt Hotel reminds us of the days when the national airline was one of the best airlines in the world. Built in 1924, the 19-story hotel is one of New York's most expensive buildings, but the recent announcement by the hotel management to close the historic hotel permanently from October 31 has taken Pakistanis by surprise. ۔

The story of the Rosevale Hotel is also very interesting. The hotel was leased by PIA Investments in 1979 to Saudi Prince Faisal bin Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. Later in 1999, PIA bought the hotel for 60 36 million. In 2005, PIA also bought shares of the Saudi prince for 40 40 million and transferred the equivalent to the Saudi prince at the Riyadh Minhal Hotel in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. Today, PIA owns 99% of the Welt Hotel and the Saudi prince owns 1%.

This historic hotel, which has been welcoming guests for eight years, is considered the identity of Pakistan in the United States and includes world famous personalities including former Presidents Asif Ali Zardari and Pervez Musharraf, Prime Minister Imran Khan, former President of Azad Kashmir Sardar Abdul Qayyum, Foreign Minister Shah. Mahmood Qureshi and Sartaj Aziz have stayed in the same hotel during their stay in New York. It is worth mentioning that the hotel management had obtained a loan of 10 109 million from US bank JP Morgan to run the Rose Welt Hotel, which was later transferred to another financial institution in its own name. Approved ڈالر 1 million loan and 20 20 million staff arrears. Thus, the National Bank of Pakistan has repaid this loan to the financial institution and freed the hotel from debt and now there is no loan on the Rose Welt Hotel building. The hotel was consistently profitable and last year the hotel reported a profit of 28 28 million after paying all taxes and expenses. That is why the news of the sudden closure and privatization of the hotel raised suspicions and the question arose as to why it was time to close this for-profit hotel. Rumors are circulating that some powerful figures in the PTI want to seize the property, which is worth about ڑھ 1.5 billion today. The government initially announced that the valuable property would not be sold, but The Privatization Commission later released a list of privatized entities, including the Rose Welt Hotel building. In the past too, attempts have been made by the ruling elites to gain personal interest in the hotel but to no avail.

The government blamed the hotel's closure on the corona virus situation. There is no doubt that Corona has caused problems in the hotel business, but tax breaks, unemployment benefits for unemployed employees and very low interest rate loans from banks to run the business. Other hotels in the city are benefiting and they have not closed their hotels. A close friend of mine from the hotel industry says that closing a hotel permanently not only reduces the value of the property but also causes many problems arising from the closed building and the building becomes dilapidated. Commercial property dealers in New York also say that closing the hotel permanently will reduce the value of the property. That's why other hotel owners in Manhattan have reduced their staff but not closed their doors to older customers.

The decision to abruptly close the lucrative Rose Welt Hotel has raised suspicions. Perhaps that is why the NAB has decided to investigate the matter. The NAB should identify those responsible for the closure of the Rosevale Hotel, but it remains to be seen whether the NAB has the courage to conduct an impartial inquiry into the matter or whether it also includes the wheat, sugar, BRT and Malam Jabba scandals. We must remember that no economy in the world has been restored or stabilized by selling its assets or privatizing them. On the contrary, the nations that have activated their institutions instead of selling them have been successful. The NAB, whose performance the Supreme Court itself is not satisfied with, is not capable of dealing with such a big scandal. The Chief Justice of Pakistan is requested to take suo motu notice of this matter and conduct an inquiry into the closure of the hotel by an honest officer like former FIA Director General Bashir Memon so that Pakistan does not lose one of its Family Silver.