ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Wednesday restrained the National Accountability Court (NAB), Karachi from passing any final order or judgment against Shell Petroleum which had sought quashment of a reference from the apex court against it for selling jet fuel to a company called Aero Lube.

A three-member SC bench comprising Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Justice Sajjad Ali Shah and Justice Yahya Afridi issued a notice to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) asking to come up with complete details of the case.

Senior counsel Makhdoom Ali Khan appearing before the court argued that his client – Shell Petroleum was being unnecessarily dragged into criminal proceedings for selling jet fuel to Aero Lube.

According to the prosecution, this fuel could only be sold to the Defence Forces or Aviation Industry but the counsel contended that there was no law which restricted the sale of jet fuel to the aviation industry only.

The relevant rules framed by the federal government put no embargo on such sales, the counsel emphasised.

The counsel argued that NAB while initiating the reference completely ignored the fact that PSO – one of the competitors of the petitioner - itself was selling jet fuel to Aero Lube.

Both the Ministry of Petroleum and Ogra had confirmed in writing that Shell Petroleum was not prohibited by any law from making such sales, the counsel contended, adding there was not even an allegation that the accused had either enriched them in the process or had any criminal intent.

There was no loss of revenue or taxes, the counsel argued. In spite of repeated disclosures by Shell to all concerned including the ministries involved, no issue was raised by FBR, the counsel said.

The court postponed further proceedings for two weeks.

Published in Dawn, March 11th, 2021