ISLAMABAD: An accountability court on Monday indicted Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders Shahid Khaqan Abbassi and Miftah Ismail, and others in liquefied natural gas (LNG) reference.
They denied charges and opted to contest them.
The court has sought evidence from the prosecution on the 19th of this month. Accountability Judge Muhammad Azam Khan ordered provision of a copy of the charge-sheet to all accused.
Ex-PM Abbasi, Miftah Ismail, ex-PSO MD Imranul Haq and others are accused of awarding an LNG import contract allegedly at exorbitant rates in 2015, which caused a big loss to the national exchequer.
According to the NAB, Abbasi had awarded an LNG import and distribution contract to the Elengy Terminal in violation of the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules in 2013.
At the previous hearing, Abbasi’s lawyer Barrister Zafarullah had contended that the NAB had written to make Miftah Ismail as an approver in this case while his client had been charged under section 3. The documents in this regard were not provided to the defence side, he said.
“Charges could not be framed against them until provision of these documents to them,” Zafarullah added.
The NAB prosecutor told the court that the demanded documents had been shared with the defence counsel.
