OGRA corruption case: Court grants pre-arrest bail to AK Dhedhi

Counsel contends Aqeel Dhedhi was not a beneficiary of SSGCL scam.

KARACHI:

The Sindh High Court granted on Thursday interim pre-arrest bail to business tycoon Aqeel Karim Dhedhi in a case pertaining to corruption proceedings against the former chairman of Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra).

A division bench, headed by Justice Faisal Arab, granted interim bail till October 11, 2012, to Aqeel on a solvent surety of Rs1 million.

Aqeel had filed an application in the SHC seeking bail before arrest, as well as to register a complaint against the National Accountability Bureau over alleged harassment.

He named the interior secretary, NAB chairman and NAB Sindh director general as respondents in his petition.

Advocate Jan Karim Dhedhi submitted that the Ogra registrar had challenged the appointment of Tauqir Saqib as Ogra chairman in the Supreme Court, and had also accused him of misuse of authority and corruption. During the hearing of the case, the apex court ordered NAB to initiate investigations into the scam.

According to the NAB chairman’s report, submitted on September 28, Ogra notified an increase in Unaccounted for Natural Gas (UFG) from 5% to 7% for 45 days, benefiting the Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGCL) – a major private shareholder of which happens to be Aqeel Dhedhi.

Advocate Jan contended that being a private shareholder of the SSGCL, his client was accused of benefiting from the scam despite the fact the Pakistan government held 80% shares of the SSGCL and had, itself, benefited from the scam.

Jan insisted that neither was Aqeel a beneficiary of the scam nor was he called in by NAB for questioning. The counsel further contended that his client was being constantly harassed by the investigation agency.

While granting interim pre-arrest bail to Aqeel in order to cooperate in investigations, the SHC issued notices to the respondents in Aqeel’s application.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 5^th, 2012.