ISLAMABAD: A two-member bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday asked the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to inform the court whether the current government’s LNG deal was similar to the one signed by former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi during his stint as the petroleum minister.
A two-member bench comprising Islamabad High Court Chief Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Lubna Saleem Pervez was hearing the case.
During the hearing, Abbasi’s counsel lamented his client’s situation in jail. To which, Justice Minallah inquired why the ex-pm was in a death cell. “He is imprisoned in the Adiala Jail in Rawalpindi,” replied NAB additional prosecutor Jahanzeib Bharwana. “He is not under our custody.”
During the hearing, NAB opposed the bail petition filed by the ex-PM, saying that a reference against Abbasi has already been filed in the accountability court. The bureau further requested to reject the bail plea of PML-N leader and submitted a reply comprising 24 pages in the court.
To this, Abbasi’s counsel Barrister Zafarullah contended that these transactions were related to the personal business of his client. He said that NAB should inform the court if these transactions were made with any private company related to LNG terminal.
The chief justice asked the prosecutor to present the questionnaire which had been shared with Abbasi to which the NAB investigation officer said that the former prime minister had not given satisfactory answers.
The chief justice taunted that whether it would be satisfactory for anti graft body if the accused confessed the crime.
“Who would be responsible if someone was disrespected with the arrest of NAB,” he asked and said that whether the corruption would be eliminated with the arrest of people.
Barrister Zafarullah said that his client was running his own business and was the fifth biggest tax payer of the country. He said that Abbasi was in custody for last 205 days in this case while the other accused including former finance minister Miftah Ismail and Imran Sheikh had been granted bails in the same reference.
On September 10, 2018, the apex court had directed the NAB to complete inquiry against 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.
Abbasi was taken into custody on July 18, 2019.
