ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) approved on Friday a multi-billion-rupee corruption reference and a separate investigation against detained PPP leader and former federal minister Dr Asim Hussain.

The decision was taken by NAB at a meeting of its executive board presided over by Qamar Zaman Chaudhry.

The reference will be filed in Islamabad’s accountability court on Monday.

NAB’s spokesman Nawazish Asim said the bureau had decided to file the reference against Dr Asim and others for fraudulent land allotments, illegal annexation of land, unfair distribution of natural gas quotas and money laundering.

NAB also authorised a separate investigation against Dr Asim, three former managing directors and the serving MD of Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) for alleged misappropriation of funds of state-owned entities, causing a loss of Rs10 billion to the national exchequer.

According to a NAB press release, Dr Asim, SSGC’s former managing directors Azeem Iqbal Siddiqui, Zuhair Ahmed Siddiqui and Shoaib Warsi and serving MD Khalid Rehman and others have been accused of misappropriating funds of SSGC and Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) by providing illegal benefits to Jamshoro Joint Venture Ltd (JJVL), a private company dealing with a liquefied natural gas (LPG) plant, in 2011 onward. The company has also been illegally provided gas worth billions of rupees by the former minister from various fields.

According to NAB’s document, under a Jan 2012 decision of its board of directors, the OGDCL entered into an agreement with JJVL for purification of Kunar Pasaki Deep (KPD) natural gas to remove impurities and hazardous gases capable of damaging SSGC’s pipeline network. In fact it was SSGC which asked OGDCL to provide purified gas, otherwise it would not accept KPD gas.

INQUIRIES: The NAB executive board authorised three inquiries.

The first was against Nazir Abbas of Al-Abbas International Educational Consultants and others on a complaint of the Australian High Commission, Islamabad. They are accused of cheating students and defrauding 106 of them by collecting about Rs760 million for the processing of Australian visa.

The second inquiry was authorised against Ashfaq Jumani of NHA, the owner of a private firm, Siraj, and others for misusing authority and illegally awarding a contract to Siraj, causing a loss of Rs93m to the national kitty.

The third inquiry was authorised against Sardar Asif Nakai, MPA; Khan Arshad Khan, former president of Al Madina Garden Housing Society Pattoki, Kasur; Dr Muhammad Ilyas Qamar and Talib Hussain Talib for alleged misappropriation and criminal breach of trust in respect of the amount recovered as consideration of plots and development works thereof by omitting development works in the society and non-mutation of land in the name of purchasers.

NAB re-authorised an inquiry against Dr Rasool Bux Solangi, former deputy district officer (revenue), Karachi; Abdul Aziz Qazi, former Tapedar, Gulshan-e-Iqbal Town in Karachi; Abdul Majeed and retired Justice Zahid K. Alvi for alleged misuse of authority/corruption and corrupt practices, causing a loss of Rs1.26bn to the exchequer.

Another inquiry was re-authorised against officers/officials of the Sindh Building Control Authority and Karachi Development Authority for alleged misuse of authority and illegal conversion/allotment of land to resourceful persons.

The bureau decided to close a complaint verification against J.H. Kim, CEO of Daewoo, Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, February 20th, 2016