Shahid Abbasi, Miftah Ismail indicted in the LNG terminal reference

An Islamabad accountability court has indicted former PM and PML-N MNA Shahid Khaqan Abbasi in the LNG terminal reference.

Former finance minister Miftah Ismail and former PSO MD Imranul Haq among 12 others have been indicted too.

The PML-N MNA took the rostrum and denied all the charges against him.

Others indicted in the case include former OGRA chairperson Uzma Adil, former OGRA member Aamir Naseem, former Air Blue MD Chaudhry Aslam, former SSGC MD Muhammad Amin

Shahidul Aslam has been declared absconding in the case.

The court has said that witnesses should be presented in court on November 19. The case of two foreigners Philip Natman and Shina Sadiq will be heard separately, the court said.

LNG terminal reference

Abbasi, who served as the PM from August 1, 2017 to May 31, 2018, after the disqualification of Nawaz Sharif , has been accused of awarding the LNG Terminal-1 contract in a non-transparent way.

The reference was filed on August 6.

NAB claimed that from 2013 to 2017, unexplained deposits of Rs1.4 billion and Rs1.2 billion were made to Abbasi and his son’s bank accounts.

Abbasi has claimed that he is being politically victimised by NAB. He hasn’t submitted his formal reply in the case as the reference is still being evaluated.

PSO appointment case

On August 5, Abbasi was indicted in the illegal Pakistan State Oil appointments case.

Abbasi has been accused of illegally appointing Sheikh Imranul Haq as the managing director of PSO and Yaqoob Sattar as the deputy managing director (finance) while he was serving as the minister of petroleum and natural resources from June 7, 2013 to July 28, 2017.

According to Haq’s LinkedIn page, he served on the post from 2015 to 2018. NAB has claimed that Haq received a salary of Rs4.95 million every month, while Sattar made Rs2.7 million per month. Their appointments caused a loss of Rs1.38 billion to the national exchequer.

NAB said that Haq had no experience in the field of oil marketing and was appointed on the basis of favouritism. The bureau claims that the appointment violated all the laws and rules set by the Supreme Court for managing directors and chief executive officers of public sector enterprises.

The PML-N leader, however, pleaded not guilty in the case.