Court extends Shahid Khaqan’s judicial remand till Jan 21 in LNG case

F.P. Report

ISLAMABAD: An accountability court (AC) in Islamabad has on Monday extended the judicial remand of former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi in the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) corruption case till January 21.

Former finance minister Miftah Ismail and two other suspects filed petitions in the court seeking exemption from appearing before it in the aforementioned case. The AC issued notice to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) directing it to present its arguments on January 13.

Shahid Khaqan Abbasi talked to media and maintained that the incumbent government should answer on flaws made in the Army Act as it impaired the matter. While stressing on the need to rectify the mistakes, he said Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) reviews every bill before supporting it.

LNG case history

On September 10, 2018, the apex court had directed the NAB to complete inquiry against Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and others for the alleged corruption in the LNG contract.

As the minister for petroleum and natural resources, Abbasi has been accused of granting contract on LNG to favourite company.

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.

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.