Gilani’s ex-adviser asked to submit payment schedule

ISLAMABAD:

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday directed ex-media adviser to former prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani, to submit schedule of payment in a graft case in two weeks.

A division bench of the IHC comprising Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui and Justice Athar Minallah directed Mian Khurram Rasool to submit a timetable of the payment while hearing his bail-after-arrest plea.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) arrested Khurram, and filed a reference against him in 2012. The reference accuses the former adviser of cheating the public at-large by inviting them to invest in two companies. It alleges that Khurram gave the impression that the companies were doing sugar and scrap business with the Trading Corporation of Pakistan and the Pak-Arab Refinery Limited.

As per the NAB’s investigation, the accused was assisted by his brother Shahid Mehmood, and they allegedly collected Rs380 million from various individuals by cheating them. NAB arrested both the suspects in 2012.

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The Federal Investigation Agency had also arrested Khurram in a liquefied petroleum gas scam, where he was accused of defrauding a businessman of millions for an LPG contract that never transpired.

Khurram’s counsel said the current case pertained to an alleged fraud with an individual, Pervez Hussain, which in fact was a business deal.

He said Hussain had claimed an exaggerated amount, while the actual amount was less.

The court after giving the directive adjourned the case.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 1^st, 2015.