Karachi
An accountability court extended the physical remand of former federal minister and senior PPP leader Dr Asim Hussain for seven days after he appeared with by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) investigators on Thursday.
The NAB officials had taken him into their custody from outside the premises of the anti-terrorism courts and presented him before an accountability court later in the day.
The accountability court had sent him on a seven-day physical remand and he was produced in court again on Thursday.
NAB has been authorised by the anti-terrorism court to question Hussain while he was in police custody.
The NAB investigators are interrogating him about allegations pertaining to illegal allotment of lands, money laundering, affiliation of colleges with the Pakistan Medical and Dental Council and issuance of licences for dozens of CNG stations.
Earlier, Hussain, who is a close aide of former president Asif Ali Zardari, had been arrested by the Rangers on August 26 on charges and the findings of a JIT report stating that he had provided medical facilities to alleged terrorists and criminals at the behest of some Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) leaders at his hospitals located in North Nazimabad and Clifton areas.
He had been handed over to the police on November 25 after which a controversy erupted in the courtroom on the matter of his remand when a police officer argued that the Rangers’ law officer had no authority to recommend the remand period when Hussain was in the custody of the Sindh Police.
Later, the ex-minister denied the charges of facilitating terrorists in the anti-terrorism court, stating that he had not confessed to any crimes and all allegations were concocted against him.
During a hearing at the anti-terrorism court on Thursday, Investigation Officer DSP Altaf Hussain had said there was no terror-related evidence against Hussain.
But he later contradicted his statement by adding that there had been some confusion in understanding his statement.
Hussain had requested the anti-terrorism court to not hand him over to the Rangers as he feared torture by the investigators.
On Thursday, Hussain complained while talking to journalists outside the courtroom that he was being provided some heavy medicines that caused several ailments.
The investigators, however, asserted that Hussain had been examined by doctors twice on the court’s directives.
SSGC official remanded
The accountability court granted 14-day physical remandof the deputy managing director and a former managing director of the Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC), Shoaib Warsi and Zuhair Siddiqui, and handed them over to NAB investigators.
The two are facing corruption charges and also of providing assistance to Dr Asim Hussian in his alleged malpractices.
After the end of their 90-day preventive detention, the Rangers had handed over Shoaib Warsi and Zohair Siddiqui to NAB for questioning them about misusing their powers. The NAB investigators had first produced the suspects before a judicial magistrate (south), Javed Iqbal Malik, who was performing special duty on account of the holiday due to the urs of Shah Latif Bhittai, and requested for a transit remand but the judge concerned declined adding that he did not have the authority to grant it.
Later, the two accused were presented before the accountability court concerned.
The Rangers had detained the officials for three months on charges of embezzling funds and financing terrorism a few days after the arrest of Dr Asim in August.
The defence counsel for the two detainees told the court that Shoaib Warsi and Zohair Siddiqui were arrested by the Rangers and had faced a long detention during which the NAB had also interrogated them for seven hours.
Now they needed no interrogation, the counsel added. The counsel alleged that the two men were being tortured for recording a confessional statement.
The court, however, went on to grant a 14-day physical remand.
SHC seeks NAB comments
The Sindh High Court on Thursday directed the deputy prosecutor general of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to file comments on a petition of former federal minister Dr Asim Hussain seeking his release on bail in a reference filed by the bureau pertaining to the alleged misuse of trust land, money laundering, illegal appointments and awarding of contracts in the Sui Southern Gas Company.
Hussain has been booked by the Sindh Police and NAB in cases over charges of harbouring of terrorists and making illegal appointments while awarding contracts in the gas company, following a report submitted by a Joint Investigation Team.
The petitioner’s counsel submitted that NAB had arrested his client without producing any sufficient material and under Section 24 of the NAB Ordinance. He said the NAB authorities did not produce any authorisation letter from the bureau chairman for obtaining the remand of the petitioner, which was unlawful, and requested the court to release Hussain on bail on the grounds that sufficient evidence had not been produced against him.
NAB’s deputy prosecutor general sought time to file comments on the petition while the bureau’s counsel opposed the petition, stating that the probe against Hussain was under way and he could not be granted bail in the initial stages of the investigation.
The court while adjourning the matter directed the NAB counsel to file comments within two weeks.
It also adjourned the hearing of the petition of the Pakistan Rangers about the transfer of the investigation officer in Hussain’s trial for allegedly harbouring terrorists, on request of the Rangers’ counsel who wanted to file a copy of an of the administrative judge of the anti-terrorism courts on the petition.
The Rangers had challenged the transfer of the investigation officer as well as dropping the anti-terrorism sections in the case.
The Rangers’ counsel had submitted in the petition that police high-ups had transferred the investigation officer of the case who had recorded statements of witnesses, and had instead appointed DSP Altaf Hussain who had dropped terrorism sections from the case and released Hussain on bail even though sufficient evidence had been found to establish the case.
Hussain, a close aide of former president Asif Ali Zardari, has been booked in cases pertaining to providing medical treatment to members of banned outfits.
The FIR case registered by the Rangers alleged that he provided medical treatment and shelter to terrorists belonging to banned outfits, the MQM and Lyari gangs on the instruction of Muttahida Qaumi Movement leaders Abdul Rauf Siddiqui, Waseem Akhtar, Anees Qaimkhani and Saleem Shahzad and Pakistan People’s Party leader Qadir Patel.