Two co-accused get post-arrest bail

NAB claims these actions caused a loss of Rs17.338 billion to the national exchequer


Our Correspondent July 01, 2016
Sindh High Court. PHOTO: EXPRESS

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court granted on Friday post-arrest bail to two former managing directors (MD) of the Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGC), who are nominated as co-accused in the Rs17.378 billion corruption reference against former petroleum minister Dr Asim Hussain.

“For reasons to be recorded separately, we are of the opinion that petitioners Shoaib Warsi and Zahir Siddiqui, who are behind bars since August 26, 2015, have made out a case for further inquiry,” observed the two judges, who later granted them bail worth Rs2 million each. However, both the petitioners were directed to deposit their passports with a court official.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had filed a reference in March regarding the illegal award of contracts to a privately-managed gas processing company, Jamshoro Joint Venture Limited (JJVL), and accused Dr Asim and his accomplices of favouring JJVL.

The investigators alleged that JJVL was allowed to process gas from five fields in Sindh by the authorities without conducting an open auction, signing agreements and following other necessary procedures. These actions, NAB claims, caused a loss of Rs17.338 billion to the national exchequer. In their bail applications, the petitioners had denied the allegations leveled against them by the NAB, and claimed they were being harassed by the anti-graft authority and pleaded the court to grant them bail.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 2nd, 2016.

COMMENTS

Replying to X

Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.

For more information, please see our Comments FAQ