Hearing of graft references against Dr Asim Hussain adjourned

KARACHI: An accountability court in Karachi has adjourned the hearing of two graft references against former petroleum adviser Dr Asim Hussain, ARY News reported on Thursday.

During the hearing, the defence lawyer argued that the accountability court could not hear the references after the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) amendment ordinance.

Later, the court adjourned the hearing of both graft references till November 12. The lawyers of the accused will continue their arguments regarding the NAB amendment ordinance in the next hearing.

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Corruption charges

An accountability court in 2017 had indicted Dr Asim Hussain, ex-petroleum secretary Ejaz Chaudhry and others in an over Rs 460 billion corruption reference.

Dr Hussain was taken into custody on August 26, 2015, by Rangers on different corruption charges.

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After 19 months, his bail plea was referred to a referee judge for final orders. The referee judge, Justice Aftab Ahmed Gorar, granted bail to the accused earlier this year.

Dr Asim Hussain faced charges of misusing his authority for getting plots allotted fraudulently and encroaching upon state land for expansion of Dr Ziauddin Hospital/Trust, money laundering, illegal gains, kickbacks, commission through fertiliser cartel for illegal curtailment of gas for exploitative price hike and defrauding people in the name of charity hospital.