Ag Agencies
KARACHI: An accountability court (AC) on Monday indicted Dr Asim Hussain and seven other co-accused in a reference pertaining to corruption of more than Rs17 billion. Dr Asim Hussain and others denied the charges and pleaded not guilty due to which the court fixed March 17 to hear the statements of the prosecution witnesses in the case.
Including Dr Asim Hussain (former federal adviser for petroleum products and close aide to former president Asif Ali Zardari), Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) Managing Director Zohair Siddiqui and other former officials, Khalid Rehman, Malik Usman, Basharat Mirza, Jameel Ansari and Shaoib Warsi and others were indicted in this case. As a whole, 11 people are alleged to have committed fraud and misappropriated huge funds. Dr Asim Hussain is a key accused in this JJVL corruption reference.
Dr. Asim Hussain, along with other accused, is also facing another reference wherein he is alleged to have misappropriated funds of more than Rs462m.
Ejaz Chaudhry, Safdar Hussain, Syed Athar Hussain, Masood Haider Jaffery and Abdul Hameed are other co-accused in this reference pertaining to charges of land fraud amounting to Rs.9.5 billion, money laundering amounting to Rs.3 billion and misuse of authority, criminal breach of trust through a fertilizer scam of Rs 450 billion.
Dr Asim Hussain is also facing a terror case in an anti-terrorism court (ATC) along with other political leaders of different parties for having assisted some criminals and outlaws by providing their medical treatment at his hospitals. All the accused are on bail in all three cases. Dr Asim Hussain, while talking to journalists outside the courtroom, said NAB had two standards in dealing with the accused and its laws were different for Punjab while in Karachi, it was using some other laws. He claimed that he was not aware of the exact allegations. He said he would not accept such allegations as he was unfairly indicted in a corruption reference.
Meanwhile, an accountability court on Monday accepted a supplementary reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against former finance minister Ishaq Dar.
The supplementary reference was filed in a corruption case against Dar in which the former finance minister has been accused of holding assets beyond his means.
The reference was filed in the light of new evidence discovered during NAB s investigation of the case.
Three new suspects have been named in the reference that spans over seven volumes. National Bank of Pakistan President Saeed Ahmed and directors of two companies owned by Dar, Mansoor Raza Rizvi and Naeem Mehmood, have been named as suspects in the reference. According to NAB, the reference contains further details about bank accounts owned by Dar and his companies.
It is pertinent to mention here that a National Accountability Bureau (NAB) court on February 15 indicted former Sindh information minister Sharjeel Memon in the Rs5.76 billion corruption case.
Memon and 11 other accused in the corruption reference were arrested by NAB in October last year.
