— Court accepts pre-arrest bail plea of Athar Hassain
KARACHI: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Thursday arrested Abdul Hameed, co-accused in corruption case against Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Dr Asim Hussain, after the Sindh High Court (SHC) dismissed his pre-arrest bail request.
Hameed is the co-accused in a RS462 billion corruption reference indicting former incarcerated petroleum minister Dr Asim Hussain.
The accountability watchdog has accused the suspect of money laundering using Dr Asim’s bank accounts. He is also suspected of corruption in the Ministry of Petroleum.
As the court dismissed Hameed’s application, it accepted the pre-arrest bail plea of Athar Hussain, the former director of the Karachi Development Authority (KDA). It also granted an extension in the bails of ex-petroleum secretary Ejaz Chaudhry and former chief executive officer of the Karachi Dock Labour Board (KDLB) Muhammad Safdar.
Hussain is facing two corruption references pertaining to alleged corruption of over Rs460 billion through fraudulent allotment of land for expansion of his hospital and money laundering.
He allegedly fraudulently awarded contracts for five gas fields to the Jamshoro Joint Venture Limited, which allegedly caused a loss of Rs17.338bn to the national exchequer.
Dr Asim also acquired land illegally for establishing Ziauddin Hospital, according to the NAB documents presented by the prosecutor in the court. The former minister was arrested on August 25, 2015, by the Rangers.