Daily Times

Younis Habib, a central figure in the Asghar Khan case and the Mehran Bank scandal, passed away on Wednesday at the age of 76. Habib, a former banker, had been suffering from a protracted ailment. His funeral prayer was offered in a local mosque, attended by a large number of his friends and relatives. He left behind a son, three daughters and a widow. He started as a bank clerk but reached the top position of president in a short span of time. He was arrested on various occasions on the charges of fraud and remained behind the bars for a long time. The biggest financial scandal against him came in the form of Mehran Bank or the Mehrangate. Once considered close to the top leadership of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), he later played a major role in the removal of Benazir Bhutto’s government in 1990, and the subsequent success of Islami Jamhuri Ittehad (IJI) in the election. During a court hearing of the Asghar Khan case in 2012, he confessed in the Supreme Court that he had doled out millions of rupees among many politicians and IJI leaders.