NAB finalizes reference against Shahid Khaqan Abbasi in LNG case
The bureaus executive board will review the LNG reference next week.
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) - The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) today (Oct. 7) has finalized a reference against former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi in the LNG corruption case.
According to Dunya News sources, Managing Director (MD) of Inter-State Gas Systems Mubin Saulat and former Secretary of Petroleum Abid Saeed, who became approvers in the LNG case, appeared in the NAB office today, where the investigation team recorded their final statement.
Reference has been finalized by the anti-graft watchdog against Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Miftah Ismail and Sheikh Imran ul Haq. Abid Saeed and Mubin Saulat have handed over all the evidences to NAB.
The bureau’s executive board will review the LNG reference next week.
On Sept. 26, Accountability court on Thursday has sent former petroleum minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and ex-finance minister Miftah Ismail to jail on physical remand in liquefied national gas (LNG) scandal.
During the hearing, the court rejected National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) appeal of extending physical remand of the accused and approved their judicial remand.
It is to be mentioned here that the apex court on September 10, 2018 directed the NAB to complete the inquiry against Abbasi and others for the alleged corruption in the LNG contract.
As the minister for petroleum and natural resources, he has been accused of granting contract on LNG Terminal to ETPL, Tri-partial agreement, LSA with EETPL and LNG import from Qatar etc.
In June 2018, the NAB approved inquiry against former premier Nawaz Sharif and Abbasi, who was the former minister for petroleum and natural resources at that time, in granting contract of LNG terminal for 15 years to their ‘favourite’ company.
It was also observed that this contract had allegedly caused a loss of billions of rupees to the national exchequer.
In January, the NAB interrogated former finance minister Miftah Ismail in the same case.
According to NAB documents, the contract for the LNG import and distribution was awarded to the Elengy Terminal, a subsidiary of Engro, in 2013 in violation of the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules and relevant laws.
