KARACHI: An accountability court on Saturday allowed former federal petroleum minister and Pakistan Peoples Party leader Dr Asim Hussain to travel abroad for medical treatment.

Dr Asim, who is a close aide to former president Asif Ali Zardari, is facing two corruption references in the accountability court and a criminal case in an antiterrorism court.

On Saturday, Dr Asim moved an application through his counsel Amir Raza Naqvi seeking the court’s permission to travel abroad for a follow-up medical check-up which was due after he underwent a surgery of spinal cord abroad a few months ago.

The lawyer said his client needed to travel to Dubai as per availability of his doctor.

Granting the permission, the accountability court-IV judge Suresh Kumar allowed Dr Asim to embark on his foreign visit between Oct 19 and Nov 25.

Dr Asim and the co-accused are facing two references about alleged corruption of over Rs460 billion through fraudulent allotment of land for expansion of his hospital and money laundering.

He is also accused of fraudulently awarding contracts for five gas fields to Jamshoro Joint Venture Limited which allegedly caused a loss of Rs17.338bn to the national exchequer.

Dr Asim is further accused of misusing his authority to get plots allotted fraudulently and encroaching upon state land for expansion of Dr Ziauddin Hospital/Trust, illegal gains, kickbacks and money laundering.

The former minister is also blamed for receiving commissions from fertiliser cartel for an “exploitative price hike”.

Another charge is related to “black marketing and fraud with public” in the name of a charity hospital.

The reference claimed that the former minister had deprived the state of Rs462.5bn from 2010 to 2013 — Rs450bn through the fertiliser scam, Rs9.5bn through land fraud and Rs3bn through money laundering.

The PPP leader is also facing a criminal case pertaining to alleged harbouring and sheltering of terrorists and gangsters at his chain of private hospitals in Karachi.

He was arrested by Rangers on Aug 26, 2015 in his office. His arrest was described as the first major action against PPP leaders during anti-graft campaign against politicians.

Woman remanded in harassment case

A local court has remanded in judicial custody a female suspect detained for allegedly harassing and blackmailing a man in Karachi.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) claimed to have arrested a woman, Sumera, for allegedly blackmailing and harassing a man by making his objectionable pictures.

The investigating officer produced the suspect before the judicial magistrate (East) to seek her physical remand for interrogation and investigation.

He informed that a man, Tahir, had lodged a complaint against the suspect, alleging that she made his objectionable pictures and videos in her mobile phone.

He further mentioned that the woman was allegedly harassing the complainant and blackmailing him on the basis of such pictures and videos.

The IO said that indecent pictures and videos had been recovered from the mobile phone of the suspect after forensic examination.

He requested the judge to grant 14-day physical remand of the female suspect in the FIA’s custody to complete investigation and other legal formalities.

However, the judge remanded the suspect in judicial custody for 14 days with direction to the IO to produce her on the next date and also submit an investigation report.

A case was registered under relevant sections at the FIA Cybercrime police station.

Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2020