ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has described the charge sheet framed against him in the LNG terminal reference as defective.

He filed an application in the Islamabad High Court, seeking a directive for the accountability court to amend the charge sheet and also sought record relating to the reference.

As per the arguments of the petitioner’s counsel Zaffarullah Khan, the accountability court had on Nov 16, 2020 framed charges against Mr Abbasi and the former premier had requested the accountability court on Dec 1 to make correction in the charge sheet and provide him proper copies of the same.

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The request was turned down by the accountability court on Jan 15, 2021, and the trial is still pending.

Barrister Zaffarullah Khan pointed out that the draft charge sheet issued to Mr Abbasi contained 26 pages whereas the interim reference consisted of seven pages and the supplementary reference 10 pages. He said the accountability court judge had framed charges against Mr Abbasi without giving him time to peruse the charge sheet.

Barrister Khan requested the IHC division bench to set aside the charge sheet.

The bench after preliminary hearing of the petition issued a notice to the National Accountability Bureau and sought its reply in a fortnight.

Published in Dawn, March 16th, 2021