Dr Asif committed corruption of Rs 100b in KESC, daily kickbacks of Rs 2b from PSO, Rs 200m from textile mills among other ungodly amounts of corruption
The Sindh Rangers released a detailed official report on the high-profile interrogation of former petroleum minister and close aide to PPP co-chairman Asif Zardari, Dr Asim Hussain since his arrest on August 26, offering details of staggering amounts of corruption with hundreds of billions allegedly fleeced by the former minister.
According to a media report, the 12-page Rangers’ report lists names of people that the PPP leader took kickbacks from along with amounts. The report has been officially sent to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for further investigation and action.
Officials said on Wednesday that NAB had already formed a Joint Investigation Team with Rangers to further probe the charges and that NAB Chairman Chaudhry Qamar Zaman had already received briefings from both the Rangers chief and the corps commander Karachi to proceed further in the case.
The covering letter of the Rangers report, sent to the NAB on September 9, describes Dr Asim Hussain as “prima donna at the national level” who accrued “mighty illegal benefits which magnified his financial stature and social standing equating him to be indispensable.”
Five other officials of the Sui Gas companies and Petroleum Ministry, who were also arrested and interrogated, gave explicit details of how Dr Asim had collected billions upon billions in kickbacks from companies.
The people who were interrogated include former managing director SSGC Zuhair Siddiqui, Deputy MD SSGC Shoaib Warsi, Chief Financial Officer SSGC Amin Rajput, Sr GM SSGC Fayyaz Merchant and GM SSGC Kamran Ehsan Nagi.
The report states: “Dr Asim has been found involved in various acts of corruption, corrupt practices and misuse of authority as public office holder. He is responsible for inflicting losses to the tune of billions of rupees on the national exchequer. Huge amounts so embezzled were provided to his political masters, which were subsequently used in terror financing and funding target killers.”
The Rangers report also reveals that all banks in the country were ordered to submit the entire financial data of Dr Asim Hussain and other arrested persons while all of them were to be placed on the ECL so that they could not leave the country.
On September 11, 2015, two days after the Rangers report was received by the NAB, a letter was issued to form the JIT which has now been set up and has started its work.
The astounding figures quoted in the report over a period of 4 to 5 years would amount to hundreds of billions of rupees collected by Dr Asim Hussain and his associates for his bosses.
There is no mention in the report of how these huge amounts were transferred overseas or whether the money was still in the Pakistani banks but all accounts have been seized.
