Yep it's not a good idea of mentioning names here!
Regarding the upgrade take it this way, maybe they figured out initially that they need more pilots, then they put out the official option of upgrades for expats without stating any details. This was followed by a high number of "application letters" of expats. Just have a look at the list that was available for everyone to check.
Surely this option for expats upset a lot of the locals. Remember that the B777 is the top ship and that we are sitting "on their seats" on this ship if we would get there, for the FO to Captain upgrade this would be the same. So I assume that the local pilots got the party involved. Keep in mind that a lot of the local pilots have very close ties to government circles. A lot of personal relations.
Then they "calculated" how much the individual pilot would have to pay for his type rating on a B777 or the A320. This led to the figure LindbergB767 mentioned in his last post.
Now think about this:
Maybe they just put the "payment" so high that none of the pilots on the list would be interested anymore. So "their problem" was solved and they could pull out of this by keeping their face, as none of the expats maybe interested anymore, due to the financial loss for them if they would take this option.
To keep it short, I personally think that they have never been really interested in this at all but the management of a certain level had to find a way to get what they want and/or to keep their faces. Finally this should keep the job here interesting to us as they started loosing pilots.