ISLAMABAD: An accountability court here on Friday exempted two former prime ministers – Yousuf Raza Gilani and Raja Pervez Ashraf – from appearing before it in Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) references.

Judge Mohammad Bashir adjourned the case to April 9 after accepting the applications seeking the exemption filed by Amjad Iqbal on behalf of the two prime ministers.

The principal accused in the case, former Ogra chairman Tauqeer Sadiq, appeared before the court. The judge expressed annoyance over the absence of the other accused.

On Jan 24, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) filed two references, one relating to illegal appointment of Mr Sadiq as Ogra chairman in 2009 and the other to corruption and irregularities committed in the organisation during his tenure.

A source in NAB told Dawn that though the former premiers had been exempted from personal appearance, they could be summoned anytime by the court, especially for indictment.

In the reference relating to the illegal appointment of the Ogra chief, Mr Gilani, Raja Ashraf, then water and power minister; Shaukat Durrani, member technical for selection process; Javed Nazir, member selection committee from Ogra; Sikandar Hayat Mekan, former senior joint secretary of the cabinet division; and Tauqeer Sadiq (beneficiary) are the main accused.

Mr Gilani is accused of giving approval to the appointment of Mr Sadiq. Raja Ashraf was head of the selection committee which had approved it. In the reference pertaining to corruption and irregularities in Ogra and gas companies, Tauqir Sadiq, Mansoor Muzaffar, Mir Kamal Fareed Bijrani, Jawad Jamil, Dewan Ziaur Rehman Farooqi, Abdur Rashid Lone, Zohair Siddique, Azeem Iqbal Siddique, Aqeel Karim Dhedhi, Syed Arsalan Iqbal, Mirza Mehmood Ahmed and Yousaf J. Ansari are the accused.

NAB started investigation into the Ogra scam on the directives of the Supreme Court on Nov 2011.

Tauqir Sadiq, who is presently on bail, was arrested at Abu Dhabi and brought to Pakistan on July 9 last year. One of the main charges against him is that with his connivance the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited and the Sui Southern Gas Company had received extra billing amount of Rs39bn from consumers.

Another allegation against him is that he manipulated the market and managed to raise the cost of SNGPL and SSGC shares in the stock market from Rs19 to Rs45 and then reverted it to the original position. This reportedly caused a loss of around Rs500 million to the national exchequer.

According to NAB investigation, Tauqeer Sadiq issued about 500 licences for CNG stations and obtained Rs300,000 commission for each licence, amassing Rs150m in this way.

He is also accused of allowing shifting of some 80 CNG stations from their approved sites to other places and getting Rs300,000 commission for each case. In this way, he is understood to have collected Rs240m.