ISLAMABAD: The National Account­ability Bureau (NAB), Rawalpindi, on Tuesday filed a corruption reference in the Accountability Court of Islamabad against PML-N leader and former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, former finance minister Miftah Ismail and many others in the multi-billion-rupee liquefied natural Gas (LNG) import contract case.

The others who are nominated in the case include former managing director of Pakistan State Oil Sheikh Imranul Haq, former Ogra chairman Saeed Ahmed Khan, Ogra chairperson Uzma Adil Khan, Engro group chairman Hussain Dawood, former chairman of PQA Agha Jan Akhtar, former member of Ogra Aamir Naseem, former managing director of PSO Shahid M. Islam and PSO official Abdul Sammad.

In a separate development, the NAB Executive Board approved 15 inquiries against opposition leaders Shahbaz Sharif, Rana Sanaullah, Baleeghur Rehman, Agha Siraj Duirrani and Nisar Khuhro and others.

The board in its meeting also approved six references against some people.

The reference filed by the anti-graft watchdog in the accountability court stated that one LNG company had received benefits of over Rs21 billion because of the contract.

NAB board okays inquiries against Shahbaz, Sanaullah, Baleeghur Rehman, Siraj Durrani, Khuhro

The reference further said the national exchequer would suffer Rs47bn loss by 2029 if the contract in question continued.

Mr Abbasi and Mr Ismail were sent to jail four months ago in the case, while Mr Haq had obtained a post-arrest bail from the Islamabad High Court on Tuesday last week.

A source told Dawn on Monday that two of the accused in the reference were said to have turned approvers. The source said that NAB believed that corruption of some Rs20 billion had taken place in the case.

Mr Abbasi was arrested in connection with the case in July this year. He is accused of awarding a 15-year contract for an LNG terminal allegedly against rules when he was petroleum minister in former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s cabinet. The case was closed by NAB in 2016, but reopened in 2018.

On Jan 2 last year, the NAB Executive Board had authorised investigations against Mr Abbasi for his alleged involvement in irregularities in LNG import.

However, the PML-N leader has claimed several times in the recent past that he has committed no illegality in the award of contracts for LNG import and, therefore, he can prove his innocence at any forum.

He has also said that the import of LNG was the need of the time in 2013 when the country was facing an acute shortage of gas.

The government had in April imposed a travel ban on Mr Abbasi, Mr Ismail and five other accused nominated in the case.

It has been learnt that NAB’s case was on a ‘weak footing’ as the Islamabad High Court had during a recent hearing of the post-arrest bail of former PSO managing director Sheikh Imranul Haq observed that the case was “a classic example of the violation of fundamental rights”.

In a detailed judgement, IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah had said: “The powers to arrest provided under the National Accountability Ordinance 1999 are not unfettered nor can they be exercised mechanically and in an arbitrary manner.”

Miftah Ismail has also sought bail from the IHC after the court granted the post-arrest bail to Mr Haq in the case.

Chief Justice Minallah had noted that “violation of fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution and the excess or abuse of jurisdiction and powers vested in the National Accountability Bureau in depriving a citizen of the valuable right of liberty in an arbitrary manner cannot be ignored…the ouster of the bail provisions in the Ordinance of 1999 does not deprive the petitioner or any other accused of constitutionally guaranteed fundamental rights such as inviolability of dignity and freedom of movement provided under Article 14 and 15 of the constitution”.

The NAB Executive Board also decided to refer a case of Rs1.1 trillion stashed by Pakistanis in the United Arab Emirates to the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR).

The money was laundered to Dubai without declaring it with the FBR and other relevant financial forums.

Published in Dawn, December 4th, 2019