AGENCIES
ISLAMABAD, MAR 29
Former Pakistani minister Asim Hussain and PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari was on Wednesday granted bail on medical grounds by a high court in two multi-billion corruption cases against him. Hussain, a close aide of former president Asif Ali Zardari, was granted bail by the Sindh High Court on the submission of surety bonds worth Rs 5 million in the corruption cases filed against him by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). Justice Aftab Ahmed Gorar, a referee judge in the case, approved the bail due to Hussain’s deteriorating medical condition. Sindh High Court Chief Justice Syed Sajjad Ali Shah had appointed Justice Gorar as the referee judge after a divisional bench of the Sindh High Court was unable to reach a consensus regarding the bail application.
Hussain, the former petroleum minister, was arrested in August 2015 by Rangers. After three months in preventive detention, the paramilitary force handed him over to police in a case pertaining to sheltering and treating alleged terrorists at his hospitals.
NAB was handed his custody in December 2015 to initiate a graft investigation. Hussain has been accused by NAB of depriving the exchequer of Rs 462.5 billion between 2010 and 2013 — Rs 450 billion through a fertiliser scam, Rs 9.5 billion through land fraud and Rs 3 billion through money laundering. He denies any wrongdoing. Zardari and his Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) allege that Asim was being punished for his loyalty towards the former president whom he had so far refused to name in kind of corruption despite alleged pressures.
His detention has been a source of tension between the PPP and government on the one hand and Sindh government and the federal government on the other hand.
The PPP termed his arrest and detention as politically motivated as so far none of the charges have been proved against him. He was already granted bail in case about providing medical services to militants.
