Mega corruption case: Bail application dismissed

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court on Thursday dismissed the pre-arrest bail application of the incumbent additional secretary of the federal ombudsman in a mega corruption drug case. A division bench of Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui and Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani dismissed the application of Arshad Farooq Faheem, the then chairman of the Drugs Pricing Committee of the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (DRAP). He was charged with helping some pharmaceutical companies pocket over a billion rupees. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) arrested Faheem from the court premises on the spot. NAB’s Additional Deputy Prosecutor General Sardar Muzaffar Abbasi told the division bench that Faheem gave illegal financial benefits to eight pharmaceutical companies in the shape of illegal price increases on their drugs. Such an action caused a loss of over Rs1 billion.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 25^th, 2016.