Corruption charges: Court sends Dr Asim Hussain on remand for fifth time

NAB investigator submits progress report, says accused is hospitalised at JPMC

KARACHI: An accountability court remanded on Wednesday former petroleum minister Dr Asim Hussain for the fifth time into National Accountability Bureau (NAB) custody in a corruption case.

Dr Asim is in NAB custody for the past 48 days. On Wednesday, the court allowed the investigators to keep him in custody for two more weeks.

At the start of the hearing, NAB investigator Zameer Abbasi submitted a progress report before the administrative judge of the accountability courts, Saad Qureshi. Abbasi submitted that the accused was hospitalised at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre on the recommendation of a medical board as per court orders. The doctors had advised a 'serene and tranquil' environment for him.

Dr Asim's attorney, Amir Raza Naqvi, intervened and argued that his client still was not at ease as the bureau was harassing him at hospital. Naqvi added that even family members and lawyers were not allowed to meet him there and two to three personnel remained inside his room at all times.

NAB deputy prosecutor general Amjad Ali Shah intervened and said that they were more concerned about the security of the accused and each and every order of the court was being complied with.

Listening to the arguments, the judge ruled NAB to not allow any irrelevant person, including security guards, inside Dr Asim's room. He also directed that the medical board to consult Aga Khan Hospital, if necessary, for a second opinion on the proposed spinal surgery of Dr Asim. Since NAB had sought an additional 15-day physical remand, Dr Asim's lawyer pleaded the judge not to grant the extension. He said that there was no incriminating material against his client upon which he would be questioned.

The NAB prosecutor submitted that during the inquiry sufficient material, which reveals embezzlement of billions of rupees, was recovered by the investigators and they need more time for questioning.

The judge, concluding the hearing, allowed NAB to keep Dr Asim till February 9.

Dr Asim, said to be a friend of former president Asif Ali Zardari, was taken into custody on August 26 last year in a raid at his office in Clifton. It has been more than 150 days that he is behind bars.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 28^th,  2016.