Dr Asim case: SHC refers bail pleas of co-accused to Chief Justice

Sindh High Court on Monday referred bail applications of co-accused in Dr Asim corruption case to Chief Justice SHC with the plea to fix all such applications of co-accused before a single bench. An SHC bench heard bail applications of co-accused in Rs 460 billion corruption case. The court extended the interim-bail granted to the co-accused.
Later, the bench referred the applications of co-accused in the Rs 460 billion corruption reference to CJ SHC for fixing all the applications before a single bench of the high court. The co-accused in the case include Abdul Hameed, Ejaz Chaudhry and Safdar Hussain, who have been nominated in the corruption reference by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against former petroleum minister Dr Asim Hussain.
It is to be mentioned here that on March 5, 2016, the NAB had filed a reference alleging that a private company was allowed to process gas from five fields in lower Sindh without conducting an open auction, incurring huge losses to the national exchequer. Dr Asim has also been accused of giving illegal gas connection to JJLV in the capacity of petroleum minister.