KARACHI: An accountability court on Saturday dismissed an application of Pakistan Peoples Party leader and former petroleum minister Dr Asim Hussain seeking acquittal in a multi-billion-rupee corruption case.

Dr Asim, a close aide to former president Asif Ali Zardari, has been facing a Rs17 billion corruption reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau in 2015.

In August 2015, the former petroleum minister was arrested during a raid at the Sindh Higher Education Commission office in the Clifton area.

He was also accused of concealing assets, illegal allotments, land grabbing, misuse of authority, fraud and giving illegal contracts during his tenure as federal petroleum minister in the Sui Southern Gas Pipelines Limited (SSGPL).

Although Dr Asim has repeatedly denied any wrongdoings, the judge observed that the applicant failed to make out a case for his acquittal under Section 265-K (power of Court to acquit accused at any stage) of the Criminal Procedure Code since the trial was at an important state of recording testimonies of the accused persons, including the applicant himself.

The court fixed April 17 as the next date of hearing and summoned prosecution witnesses to record their statement.

Earlier in March, the accountability court had dismissed the acquittal application of Dr Asim in another case allegedly pertaining to Rs460bn corruption.

He has been facing trial in a case pertaining to misusing his authority as the federal petroleum minister to get plots allotted fraudulently and also encroaching upon state land for expansion of his Dr Ziauddin Hospital/Trust, money laundering, illegal gains, kickbacks, commission through fertiliser cartel for illegal curtailment of gas for exploitative price hike, etc.

Published in Dawn, April 9th, 2023