ISLAMABAD, May 30: Dr Asim Hussain, former adviser to the Ministry of Petroleum, was grilled for two hours by NAB investigators on Thursday for his alleged role in the controversial appointment of Tauqeer Sadiq as chairman of the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) in 2009.

But former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani did not respond to a notice issued to him by the National Accountability Bureau on the matter.

Dr Hussain was summoned to also explain his alleged role in supplying free gas to a private hospital for two years and a large-scale gas theft from the Kunarpasakhi gas field.

NAB spokesman Razman Sajid refused to divulge details of the investigation and only said: “Dr Asim appeared before the NAB team on Thursday and since the matter is sub judice, I cannot comment on it in the media.”

When asked about Mr Gilani, he said a notice had been served on him but he neither responded to it nor visited the NAB headquarters to record his statement in the case of Tauqeer Sadiq’s appointment.

“We will shortly issue another notice to Mr Gilani,” the spokesman said, adding that according to the NAB ordinance a person could be arrested if he did not respond to three consecutive notices. According to NAB sources, Dr Asim told the investigators that he had nothing to do with the appointment of Sadiq because it was made before he had taken over as adviser to the ministry.

When asked about his alleged role in issuing licences for setting up CNG stations, Dr Asim said these had been issued by Ogra and, therefore, the ministry had to provide gas to the stations.

Tauqeer Sadiq has been declared a proclaimed offender since he is also a principal accused in a Rs82 billion corruption case. He fled abroad soon after the Supreme Court declared his appointment as Ogra chief illegal on Nov 25, 2011, and ordered NAB to arrest him.

Mr Sadiq managed to leave the country although his name was on the exit control list.

Two former prime ministers — Yousuf Raza Gilani and Raja Pervez Ashraf — have been accused of being involved in the ‘illegal’ appointment of Sadiq. The apex court was informed that Raja Ashraf was chairman and federal secretaries Zafar Mehmood and Nargis Sethi were members of the interview board which had appointed Mr Sadiq. Mr Gilani was prime minister at that time.

On April 17, 2011, the Higher Education Commission had declared the master’s degree of Sadiq, brother-in-law of PPP secretary general Jehangir Badar, as fake.

But Mr Sadiq had claimed in a statement that the master’s degree had nothing to do with his appointment since the qualification for the post of Ogra chairman, as given in section 3 of the Ogra ordinance, was an LLB degree and 20 years of experience. “I did my LLB in 1987 and have 22 years of experience and, therefore, I am eligible for the post even without this master’s degree,” he said.