SC allows Dr Asim to travel abroad, orders name off ECL

KARACHI: The Supreme Court ordered on Tuesday the relevant authorities to remove the name of Pakistan Peoples Party leader Dr Asim Hussain from the Exit Control List (ECL), overturning an earlier Sindh High Court ruling.

The apex court directed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and the Federal Investigation Agency to remove Asim’s name from the ECL.

Asim has been allowed to leave for abroad for one month for medical treatment and has to submit a surety of Rs6 million.

Asim was placed on the ECL in November 2015. He subsequently petitioned the courts to have his name removed.

The latest petition in the Supreme Court had stated that a medical board advised the former petroleum minister to travel abroad for treatment. 

It said that Asim took an appointment with a doctor based in London and any delay in treatment might further deteriorate his health.

NAB, Ministry of Interior, Home Department Sindh, and Inspector General of Police Sindh were made respondents in the petition.

Hussain was released from prison after 19 months on March 31. 

The Sindh High Court, on March 29, approved the former minister's bail request after he furnished his passports that were being held by the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in connection with another case.

Following his release, Dr Hussain was shifted from the Jinnah Post Graduate Medical Complex to the Ziauddin Hospital.

Dr Hussain, a close aide of former president and PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, faces several charges including corruption references filed by NAB of Rs 479 billion. He is also alleged to have provided treatment and protection to terrorists at a hospital owned by him.

According to NAB, Dr Hussain created an artificial shortage of gas during his tenure as a result urea fertiliser prices skyrocketed and touched Rs1,830 from just Rs850.

His name was first added to the ECL, on the NAB's request on November 24, 2015.