Court returns Rs17bn JJVL reference against Dr Asim, others to NAB

KARACHI: An accountability court on Thursday returned a Rs17 billion graft reference against former federal minister Dr Asim Hussain and seven others to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) over lack of jurisdiction.

The PPP leader, along with then officials of the Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) and Oil & Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL), had been charged with illegally awarding gas contracts to a private gas company, the Jamshoro Joint Venture Limited (JJVL), to process gas from the government’s gas fields without any open auction.

Accountability Judge-IV Shahid Pervez Memon pronounced his order on two applications filed by Dr Hussain and Zubair Ahmed Siddiqui seeking to return the reference to NAB to file it before an appropriate forum for trial.

The judge ruled: “This court has no jurisdiction to entertain the instant reference; therefore, both applications are allowed. Consequently, Reference No. 19/2016 is returned to the Chairman NAB through DG NAB Karachi with all relevant documents for presenting it before the concerned court/forum as provided under the law.”

He said the eight accused, who are out on bail, would have to obtain bail afresh once the reference is filed before the relevant court.

“In the above reference, there is no allegation that the applicants/accused intentionally misused their authority by disregarding law so as to gain any monetary benefit or favor for himself or any other person related to him or on his behalf,” the judge noted.

“There is neither any allegation of having done the act not in good faith nor there is any allegation of gaining any monetary benefit as such the applicants/accused do not fall within the ambit of misuse of authority as defined by law and as enunciated under the amendments.”

Farooq H Naek, who represented the PPP leader, contended that on March 4, 2016, NAB had filed the reference against Dr Asim Hussain and officials of the SSGC and the Oil & Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) over alleged misuse of authority, which caused a loss of Rs17.338 billion to the national exchequer.

He said his client moved an application before the trial court seeking acquittal and return of the reference to the bureau in the wake of the amendments made to the National Accountability Ordinance 1999 in 2022, which was dismissed. However, he added the Sindh High Court later allowed Dr Hussain’s plea, ordering the transfer of the case back to NAB to file it before an appropriate forum.

The counsel said that on September 15, 2023, the Supreme Court declared void some amendments made to the NAB law through the National Accountability (Amendment) Act, 2022, and the Second Amendment Act, 2022, as a result of which the trial court restored the reference to its original status and issued notices to the accused.

He argued that the sections that the top court declared void pertained to cases involving public office holders and public servants, as well as NAB’s jurisdiction to handle corruption cases involving an amount lower than Rs500 million.

The counsel said accused officers of the OGDCL and SSGC, which are public limited companies governed by their own board of directors, cannot be called civil servants or public functionaries, due to which they were also outside the purview of the law. While one accused, Iqbal Z Ahmed, was the chief executive officer of a private company, JJVL and was neither public office holder nor a civil servant. He therefore pleaded with the judge to return the reference to NAB over lack of jurisdiction to try them.

The NAB prosecutor, on the other hand, contended that the applications were not maintainable and liable to be dismissed.

Dr Hussain, the SSGC’s former managing directors Khalid Rehman and Zuhair Ahmed Siddiqui, the OGDCL’s former managing director Basharat Mirza, the SSGC’s then deputy managing directors Yousuf Jamil Ansari and Shoaib Warsi, the SSGC’s former treasury and finance general manager Malik Usman and JJVL CEO Iqbal Z Ahmed were indicted in the case in February 2018.

In the reference filed in March 2016, NAB claimed that the former minister and officials permitted the JJVL to illegally process gas of Kunar Pasakhi Deep, Bobi, Sinjhoro, Naimat Basal and Badin gas fields without fulfilling the legal requirements because neither an open auction was held nor an agreement was signed. NAB alleged that the accused caused the exchequer to lose Rs17.34 billion.