Former prime minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said that the actions of the courts have become a “joke” and demanded those who created these laughable circumstances be held accountable.
“Those who think the law is a joke will be answerable,” he said during a media talk outside an accountability court after appearing for a hearing on Thursday.
Regarding the charge sheet that was issued against him, he said that it was 26 pages long. Abbassi added that he had consulted ten lawyers, and none of them claimed to have seen anything like this before.
Getting into more detail, he said the first of the 64 points in the sheet was regarding the fact he changed the name of the Ministry of Petroleum to the Ministry of Energy when he was prime minister.
“This was my crime, according to this charge sheet. How is this in violation of any law?” he asked, adding that the courts have become a joke.
Earlier this week, an accountability court had indicted the former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi in the LNG terminal reference.
Former finance minister Miftah Ismail and former PSO MD Imranul Haq among 12 others had been indicted too.
The PML-N MNA took the rostrum and denied all the charges against him.
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 huge loss to the national exchequer.
According to the NAB, Abbasi had awarded an LNG import and distribution contract to a private company in violation of the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules in 2013.
In a 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 added.
“Charges could not be framed against them until provision of these documents to them,” Zafarullah added.
The NAB prosecutor maintained that the demanded documents had been shared with the defence counsel.
