RAWALPINDI, April 26: Ali Musa Gilani, the youngest son of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, recorded his statement on the ephedrine case at the Anti-Narcotics Force office on Thursday, the day his father was convicted of contempt by the Supreme Court.
Ali Musa appeared before an investigation team in Rawalpindi and according to his counsel Fawad Chaudhry he stayed at the ANF office for about two and a half hours.
He denied allegations levelled against him and said he did not know the accused nominated in the case.
However, he said there was a possibility that someone else might have used identity because of his status and introduced himself as son of the prime minister for the sake of personal gain.
He said that in the past at least two persons, one in Kharian and another in Bahawalpur, had used his name and they were arrested by law-enforcement agencies.
Mr Gilani claimed that he had not appointed Tauqeer Ali Khan or anyone else as his frontman and he did not even know him as an alleged intermediary in the ephedrine scam.
He said Tauqeer Khan was not in his staff and he did not authorise him to use his name for the alleged deals.
He said the misuse of controlled chemical ‘ephedrine’ had taken place in 2009 or 2010 when he was not in Pakistan but was studying in London.
Musa Gilani said that he did not know the directors-general of the ministry of health and never telephoned any official for allocation of ephedrine quota.
According to an ANF official, he also denied his association with the owners or partners of Berlex and Danas pharmaceutical companies allegedly involved in selling some 9,000kg of ephedrine to narcotics smugglers.
The official said the allocation and misuse of ephedrine took place in 2010 when Musa Gilani had returned to Pakistan after completing his study.
He said Mr Gilani had denied allegations and his name was not in the incomplete charge-sheet. But during investigation, ANF officials were informed by accused Tauqeer Khan that he was the frontman of a political figure and the political figure was none other than Musa Gilani.Fawad Chaudhry told Dawn that his client was innocent because the ANF had no evidence against him.
He said the decision to include Musa Gilani’s name in the investigation on the basis of a statement of former director-general of health Rasheed Juma that he had received a telephone call from him for allocation of ephedrine.
The counsel said his client had been dragged into the controversy because of being a son of the prime minister. He said the ANF had no proof about Musa Gilani having called Mr Juma. Someone else, he said, might have used the name of Mr Gilani while talking to Mr Juma on telephone.
Meanwhile, a special court for control of narcotics substances (CNS) in Rawalpindi cancelled pre-arrest bail of three accused in the ephedrine case.
CNS special judge Chaudhry Zafar Iqbal on an application of the ANF cancelled the bail of Dr Rasheed Juma and directors of Danas pharmaceuticals Rizwan Ahmed Khan and Col (retd) Tahir Wadood Lahoti.
ANF counsel Barrister Waseem Ahmed Qureshi told the court that Rizwan Khan and Tahir Lahoti misused 2,500 kg of ephedrine and Dr Juma was the director-general of health at the time when about 9,000kg of ephedrine was allocated to Danas Pharma and Berlex lab in 2010.