ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Wednesday took former finance minister Dr Miftah Ismail and former Pakistan State Oil managing director Sheikh Imranul Haque into custody after the Islamabad High Court (IHC) rejected their applications for extension in pre-arrest bail in the LNG import scam.

Dr Ismail and other accused in the case face the charge of causing a huge loss to the exchequer by illegally awarding contract of LNG terminal-1.

Before rejecting the ex-minister’s plea, IHC Chief Justice Justice Athar Minallah, who was heading a two-judge bench, observed that the Supreme Court of Pakistan had set a standard for granting bail in NAB cases. “Bail in NAB cases can only be given in cases of hardship,” the judge said, adding that previous judgements of the apex court existed on granting bail under the NAB law.

Justice Minallah reminded the counsel for the former minister, Haider Waheed, to convince the court that his client was seeking bail extension due to circumstances of “extreme hardship”.

However, Advocate Waheed accused the bureau of abusing its authority terming it murder of justice. He said use of powers for ulterior motives manifested mala fide intent. Why NAB wanted to arrest Ismail despite his cooperation in the investigation, he questioned and then hastened to add that NAB wanted to arrest him due to political reasons.

When Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani, the other member of the bench, asked if Dr Ismail had not negotiated LNG price before the award of the contract, the counsel said his client was just one of the eight members of the committee that held talks.

The counsel said when the deal for the LNG supply was being finalised his client was working as a non-executive director of the Sui Southern Gas Company. He said the initial negotiations to purchase LNG from Qatar had already been done by the time Dr Ismail took charge of his office.

The then Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government did not import LNG at exorbitant rates during Dr Ismail’s tenure, the counsel argued. He said the LNG terminal was set up later for which the present government paid higher price.

Opposing his arguments, NAB prosecutor Sardar Muzaffar Abbasi said the LNG terminal contract had been awarded at a rate that was more than double the preferred rate. The national exchequer suffered a loss of Rs1.54 billion till date due to the “erroneous” award of the contract, he said, adding that the then PML-N government wanted to award the LNG terminal contract to a specific company.

The NAB prosecutor then informed the bench that former petroleum secretary Abid Saeed had become an approver in the case and that he “revealed Miftah Ismail’s role” while recording his statement. Advocate Abbasi then proceeded to read out the former petroleum secretary’s testimony.

The investigation officer of the LNG case told the court that LNG rates had not been compared with the market standards while awarding the contract.

Resuming his arguments, Dr Ismail’s lawyer said NAB earlier stated before the court that it did not seek his arrest. “NAB should explain what new has transpired since then,” he added.

He recalled that his client had been issued a call-up notice on July 15 and the following day his arrest warrants were issued. “The arrest warrants were issued after Miftah Ismail’s [party] leader announced protests [against the present government],” he said.

The IHC bench wondered whether the LNG plant should be shut down if the current rates were resulting in losses. The judges asked the investigation officer whether the PTI government had issued a statement supporting the LNG plant closure due to the losses.

Justice Kayani observed that Pakistan had also suffered losses in international arbitration cases in the past. He said the representatives of the incumbent government signing LNG agreements could be seen as suspect in five years’ time. “The government should perhaps take NOC (no-objection certificate) from NAB prior to entering into such agreements,” he remarked.

The court then inquired what steps the government had taken to curb daily losses in the LNG plant. “What the government has done is that it has given the contract on even higher rates [than earlier] now,” quipped the counsel for the ex-minister.

After hearing arguments from both sides, the IHC bench rejected the bail applications of both the ex-minister and the former PSO MD. A NAB team present in the court took them into custody soon after the verdict.

According to the anti-graft watchdog, a team of doctors has been called for medical examination of the accused who will be produced before an accountability court today (Thursday) for remand.

PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz condemned the arrest of the party leader in a tweet, terming it government’s “response to historic failures, including Kashmir fiasco”.

Published in Dawn, August 8th, 2019