Dr Asim files plea in SHC to be taken off Exit Control List

Former minister says he needs to travel abroad for orthopaedic spinal surgery

Former federal petroleum minister Dr Asim Hussain filed a petition in the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Wednesday to be taken off the Exit Control List (ECL).

Hussain, who was released on bail a fortnight ago while the anti-graft watchdog's corruption references against him are still pending, told the court that he was afflicted with various ailments and required orthopaedic spinal surgery, which, he said, could not be performed in Pakistan.

He said that putting his name on the ECL ran contrary to the law because he needed to travel out of the country for medical treatment, and requested the court to delete his name from the list.

The SHC had granted him bail on medical grounds in cases of corruption of around Rs480 billion, and directed the Ministry of Interior to place his name on the ECL.

Hussain and his close aide, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, are facing corruption references relating to land fraud of Rs9.5 billion, money laundering of Rs3 billion as well as misuse of authority and criminal breach of trust through a fertiliser scam of Rs450 billion.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) also accused the former petroleum minister of awarding contracts to a private company, the Jamshoro Joint Venture Limited (JJVL), to process gas from government-owned gas fields without any open auction, which caused losses of more than Rs17 billion to the national exchequer.

On November 1 last year the SHC had granted bail to Hussain, Pak Sarzameen Party's Anis Qaimkhani, Muttahida Qaumi Movement's Rauf Siddiqui, Pasban's Usman Moazzam, Karachi Mayor Waseem Akhtar and PPP's Qadir Patel in a case relating to harbouring terrorists and their medical treatment.

 

Power of attorney

The SHC also granted Hussain's application for urgent hearing against the
refusal of the Ministry of Defence to attest the power of attorney in favour of his son.

The former minister told the court that he wanted to grant his son Ammad Hussain the power of attorney for the Dr Ziauddin Hospital and his declared bank accounts in Dubai.

His counsel said Hussain had executed the power of attorney in favour of his son in the presence of the competent authority, to which the accountability court hearing a corruption reference against him had also acceded.

However, added the counsel, the officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs refused to attest the document because, according to the officials, several cases against his client were pending in the National Accountability Court and an anti-terrorism court, and attesting the power of attorney would affect the cases.

Earlier, the federal law
officer had opposed the
petition and said the request to transfer the power of
attorney could not be granted because the NAB law prohibited transfer of property until the pending reference or investigation was decided.