ISLAMABAD: Austrian Ambassador to Pakistan Michael Stigelbauer is neither paying rent nor willing to move out of the property being used as the Austrian Embassy, according to a heir of the property’s late owner former Foreign Minister Agha Shahi.
“Ambassador Dr. Michael Stigelbauer is not willing to vacate or pay rent after Agha Shahi’s death in 2006 notwithstanding repeated demands by the Pakistan Foreign Office and a court judgment asking him to vacate the premises,” said Shahi’s nephew Agha Zafar Hilaly.
“To my mind such defiance of a country’s laws is unprecedented and unacceptable.”
Shahi reportedly signed a four-year lease in 1996 to turn his property into the Austrian Embassy. Shahi died in 2006. The lease was renewed twice since 2000. The lease ran out in July 2008. The heirs say the ambassador has not paid rent since the property was legally transferred after Shahi’s death.
The heirs have reportedly won a court order to evict the Austrian government from the property, but they claim the ambassador is using diplomatic immunity to squat on the property without paying rent.
The matter is reportedly being taken up with the Austrian government.
