NAB told to file comments on Dr Asim’s bail plea

The Sindh High Court (SHC) has directed the special prosecutor of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to file comments on a bail application filed by former federal minster Dr Asim Hussain in a multibillion-rupee corruption reference.

On March 5 last year NAB had filed a reference against ex-petroleum minister Hussain claiming Jamshoro Joint Venture Limited (JJVL), a private company, was allowed to process gas from five fields in lower Sindh without conducting an open auction or signing agreements and without following other mandatory procedures.

These actions, according to the investigators, caused a loss of more than Rs17 billion to the national coffers. Zuhair Siddiqui, Azeem Iqbal, Shoaib Warsi, Yusuf Jamil Ansari, Malik Usman, former OGDCL MD Basharat Mirza, Zahid Bakhtiar, Iqbal Ahmed and other JJVL officials were also accused in this case.

Hussain’s counsel Anwar Mansoor Khan told the court on Tuesday that his client was incarcerated since August 26, 2015, and yet no charges had been framed by the accountability court.

Khan added that Hussain’s health was deteriorating and that he required complete bed rest as well as medical treatment. He accused the paramilitary Rangers of torturing his client in detention.

He said two medical boards that had examined the former minister had suggested back surgery as well as physiotherapy and hydrotherapy.

The counsel said all the co-accused had been granted pre-arrest or post-arrest bail, except his client. He requested the court to release him on bail on medical grounds.

Meanwhile, NAB’s special prosecutor requested the court to fix a short date to enable him to make the required submissions.

The SHC adjourned the matter until January 18, and directed the prosecutor to make all the submissions on the next date of hearing.

The bench also issued notices to the co-accused and their lawyers for submitting their arguments when the case is heard next.

On Saturday the accountability court trying Hussain and others in two corruption references put off the hearing until next week because the former minister and his attorneys did not appear in court.

An application was submitted in court on behalf of the prison authorities claiming that since Hussain was “seriously ill”, it was not possible to bring him to court.

The application said doctors had advised the former minister to rest, following which the hearing was adjourned until January 21.

Besides the JJVL case, Hussain was also accused of committing corruption of Rs462 billion during his tenure as federal petroleum minister.

Investigators claimed that he created artificial shortage of gas, which resulted in urea fertiliser prices skyrocketing from Rs850 to Rs1,830.

The government then had to provide a subsidy on urea import, causing a loss of Rs450 billion to the national exchequer between 2012 and 2013.

Hussain, currently the Karachi chief for the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), is also accused of misappropriating Dr Ziauddin hospitals’ funds as chairman of the Dr Ziauddin Trust.

Investigators claimed that the former minister provided shelter and treatment to target killers and terrorists at the hospitals.

His co-accused in the case include Karachi Mayor Waseem Akhtar, other Muttahida Qaumi Movement leaders Rauf Siddiqui and Saleem Shehzad, as well as Anis Qaimkhani, now a leader of the Pak Sarzameen Party, the PPP’s Qadir Patel and Pasban chief Usman Moazzam.

On January 7 the accountability court had adjourned the hearing of the gas shortage case for a week after the investigating officer said the former minister could not be brought to court owing to his surgery. Though the other accused were present in court, the hearing was put off without recording their statements.

Besides Hussain, the other accused include former petroleum secretary Ejaz Chaudhry, former Karachi Docks Labour Board CEO Safdar Hussain, former Karachi Development Authority directors Syed Athar Hussain and Masood Haider Jaffery, and Ziauddin group's finance director Abdul Hameed.