ISLAMABAD: An accountability court in the federal capital on Tuesday canceled the arrest warrant of former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi in the LNG (liquefied natural gas) reference.
Accountability Court judge Nasir Javed had issued a warrant against the senior Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) leader for not filing an immunity petition despite his absence from the hearing of the case.
The court also issued a non-bailable arrest warrant for co-accused Uzma Adil, the former chairperson of the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA).
The accountability court summoned Abbasi in the LNG case today (Tuesday), but his lawyer did not appear in the court on his behalf.
In 2019, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) arrested Abbasi for alleged corruption in 2013 when he was minister of petroleum and natural resources, awarding a multi-billion rupee import contract for LNG.
Abbasi was granted bail in 2021 by an accountability court which ruled that there was never any dispute over non-transparency in the LNG terminal case.
In its detailed decision on bail, the court had said that the accountability watchdog’s case is not based on whether the former petroleum minister made financial gains or not.
In the LNG terminal case, there was no dispute on whether there was transparency or not. The competent forum approved the LNG terminal,” the court had said.
The court said that whether the LNG terminal was built in the public interest or not required further investigation.
The court said that NAB could not prove the need to keep Shahid Khaqan Abbasi in jail.
The LNG reference
On July 28, 2020, Chairman NAB appointed Abbasi, his son Abdullah Khaqan Abbasi, former Finance Minister Miftah Ismail, former Chairman of SSGC Board, former CEO of EETPL and MD of PSO, Port A supplementary reference was approved against the former chairman. Qasim Authority (PQA) Agha Jan Akhtar, Ex-Ogra Chairman Saeed Ahmed Khan, Ex-OGRA Member Aamir Naseem, Uzma, Ex-MD Pakistan State Oil (PSO) Shahid M Islam, Engro Corporation Limited Chairman Hussain Dawood, Director Engro Corporation Ltd. Abdul Samad Dawood, and others.
It was alleged that the accused awarded the contract of LNG Terminal One through a non-transparent process.
The public office holders were alleged to have colluded with each other and misused their authority to give wrongful benefit of Rs.14.146 billion and wrongful loss of Rs.7.438 billion to EETL/ETPL/ECL in respect of EETL’s LNG Terminal-1. Also delivered. Blaine, from March 2015 to September 2019 for non-utilization of unused capacity of PGPL’s second LNG terminal.
Thus, as of September 2019, the total liability stands at around Rs 21.584 billion. Further losses for the next 10 years would be around Rs 47 billion, as the said agreement expires in March 2029.
During this period unexplained deposits of Rs 1.426 billion were received in Abdullah Abbasi’s accounts and Rs 1.294 billion were deposited in the bank accounts of the Muslim League (N) leader between 2013 and 2017, during which the aforementioned LNG terminal Deal done. was killed.
According to the reference, the accused also committed the crime of money laundering by hiding the origin of the said deposits and layer by layer.
