KARACHI: Former Petroleum Minister Dr Asim Hussain could not be released on bail in corruption cases after he failed to submit his passport in accordance with the Sindh High Court ruling on Thursday.
While granting him bail, the court had ordered him to surrender his passport along with surety bonds.
Asim’s lawyer prayed the court to make an amendment in its decision since his client had already submitted his passport in an Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in another case.
SHC judge Irfan Saadat refused to rule and remarked that the matter would be decided by Chief Justice. According to TV channels, the chief justice is out of the city.
The bail plea of Dr Asim in two NAB references was accepted by the Sindh High Court on medical grounds on Wednesday.
Dr Asim, a close aide of Asif Ali Zardari, faces corruption references pertaining to land fraud amounting to Rs9.5 billion, money laundering of Rs3 billion, and misuse of authority and criminal breach of trust through a fertiliser scam of Rs450 billion.
NAB had also accused him of illegally awarding gas contracts to a privately-managed gas processing company, Jamshoro Joint Venture Limited, to process gas from government-owned gas fields without an open auction, causing a loss of Rs17.338 billion to the national exchequer.