Ephedrine quota case: Judge censures Musa Gilani for being late

Court agrees to hear plea of ex-secretary health for unfreezing assets.

RAWALPINDI:

The Control of Narcotics Substances Court (CNSC) Special Judge on Tuesday snubbed Syed Ali Musa Gilani, son of former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, over appearing before the court late.

The CNSC Special Judge Arshad Mehmood Tabbasum warned Musa Gilani that his arrest warrants would be issued if he was late for the next hearing.

The court was hearing the case of illegal allocation of the quota of ephedrine, a controlled substance used in medicines that is also used in the manufacture of party drugs.

The court agreed to hear the plea of the former secretary health Khushnood Akhtar Lashari filed for unfreezing his assets, and issued notices to Anti Narcotics Force (ANF) to present the record of the case.

The assets of accused have been frozen under the law that requires confiscation of properties acquired with drug money.



Earlier, the trial court could not frame charges against the accused including former federal minister Makhdoom Shahabuddin and Syed Ali Musa Gilani in the ephedrine case owing to absence of a co-accused Abdul Khaliq and the objections raised by the accused in challan presented by the ANF.

The court postponed the hearing of the case till August 17. Similarly, the judge also postponed the proceedings in the freezing of assets case of the accused till August 3.

After the hearing, Musa Gilani told reporters that he has nothing to do with the ephedrine case and that his family and his party, PPP, are being politically victimised.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 31^st, 2013.