NAB summons Abbasi on February 8

Islamabad: The National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) office in Rawalpindi has summoned former premier Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on February 8 in Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) scandal. The apex court on September 10, 2018 directed the NAB to complete the inquiry against former premier Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and others for the alleged corruption in the LNG contract with Qatar. In June 2018, the NAB approved inquiry against former premier Nawaz Sharif and Abbasi, who was the former minister for petroleum and natural resources at that time, in granting contract of LNG terminal for 15 years to their ‘favourite’ company. It was also observed that this contract had allegedly caused a loss of billions of rupees to the national exchequer. The NAB in January interrogated former finance minister Miftah Ismail in the same case. According to NAB documents, the contract for the LNG import and distribution was awarded to the Elengy Terminal, a subsidiary of Engro, in 2013 in violation of the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules and relevant laws.