PESHAWAR, May 6: The Peshawar High Court on Monday directed the anti-corruption establishment (ACE) to submit an investigation report in the multi-million rupee scam regarding purchase of substandard hepatitis injections and vaccines.

A single-bench comprising the Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan extended interim, pre-arrest bail to one of the central characters of the scam, Dr Mohammad Ali Chohan, till May 13 observing that his petition would be decided after receiving the investigation report of ACE.

The bench also adjourned hearing of three other officials of health department -- director general Dr Sharif Ahmad Khan, chief of Provincial Hepatitis Control Programme Dr Ghulam Subhani and a storekeeper Mubarak Shah -- arrested on April 3 from their offices.

Earlier on April 22, the special judge anti-corruption had dismissed pre-arrest bail petition of Dr Chohan and bail petitions of the three other officials.

Dr Chohan, a former director of the concerned purchase committee, is presently the medical superintendent of Maulvi Jee Hospital Peshawar.

The anti-corruption establishment (ACE) has registered the case under section 409, 419, 420, 468, 471, 120-B, 109 of the Pakistan Penal Code and section 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

When the bench took up for hearing the bail petitions on Monday advocate Mian Abdul Fayyaz, representing Mubarak Shah, contended that he was falsely implicated in the case as he was merely a storekeeper who got nothing to do with purchase of the vaccine.

He stated that according to the FIR the ACE had sealed the concerned store where the vaccines were kept on Jan 1, 2013, and during inquiry it was found that 1.1679 million vials of the said injections were missing as compared to the record. He added that the FIR stated that a loss of around Rs109.7 million was inflicted on government exchequer.

The counsel argued that the said vials were in fact not missing and were stored with the concerned company, Pharmedics Laboratories at Lahore as the health department was not having proper storage capacity here.

An additional advocate general Fazalur Rehman Khan stated that the investigation by the ACE was in the final stage and it would be appropriate for the court to summon the investigation report. An official of the ACE informed the court that the said investigation would be completed within next three to four days.

The bench directed the official to submit the said report so that these petitions could be decided.

The ACE in its earlier inquiry had alleged that several officials of health department were involved in purchasing the substandard vials of interferon drug for onward distribution in different hospitals of the province for treating hepatitis-C patients.

The said injections were purchased under the Benazir Health Support Programme and Annual Development Programme. The ACE alleged that the samples were tested in the concerned laboratory in Islamabad were found to be substandard.