By Asghar Ali Mubarak
ISLAMABAD: An accountability court indicted on Monday former prime minister and PML-N leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, ex-foreign minister Miftah Ismail and other co-accused in the LNG terminal reference filed against them by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
Accountability Judge Muhammad Azam Khan ordered provision of a copy of the charge-sheet to all accused. They denied charges and opted to contest them.
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 defense side, he said.
“Charges couldn’t be framed against them until provision of these documents to them,” Zafarullah added. NAB prosecutor told the court that the demanded documents had been shared with the defence counsel.
