Daily Times

KARACHI: An accountability court on Saturday directed a medial board to examine the health of Dr Asim Hussain, former petroleum minister and the close aide of Pakistan Peoples Party co-chairman, and submit its report.

Accountability Court VI’s Judge Saad Qureshi has directed the medical board to determine whether Dr Asim needed to have an operation or his illness would be cured by hydrotherapy and to submit report on the issue on November 25.

At the outset, the court was informed that an eight-member medical board was constituted by the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center (JPMC) for examination of the health of Dr Asim.

The counsel for the accused told the court that his client was seriously ill and urgently needed operation.

Dr Asim is facing the charges of misusing his authority to get a piece of land allotted illegally and encroaching upon the state land for expansion of Dr Ziauddin Hospital, money laundering and receiving kickbacks.

Other co-accused, who have been nominated in the reference, are former petroleum secretary Muhammad Ejaz Chaudhry, administrator of Ziauddin Medical Centre, Dubai Abdul Hameed, former directors of the Karachi Development Authority Syed Athar Hussain and Masod Haider and Karachi Dock Labour Board’s former chief executive officer Safdar Hussain.

According to the NAB reference, Dr Asim deprived the national exchequer of Rs462 billions from 2010 to 2013.