ISLAMABAD: Awami Muslim League (AML) chief Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed provided the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) with the details of alleged corruption in the award of a contract for the import of liquefied natural gas (LNG) by the then federal petroleum minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.
Addressing media after a meeting with NAB chairman on Wednesday, the AML chief said that he has done half of the work for the bureau as he has also submitted evidence of the Rs200 billion scandal.
He claimed that the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) has decided to launch an assault against the Supreme Court chief justice and NAB chairman, adding that PML-N is also searching for evidence to launch a movement against the NAB chairman.
“They can do whatever they want but will fail in their plans,” Rasheed said, adding that he will strike the last nail in the coffin of their [PML-N’s] politics.
On February 12, the Supreme Court had dismissed Rasheed’s petition seeking a NAB inquiry against Shahid Khaqan Abbasi as well as his disqualification from parliament over the LNG scandal.
The three-member Supreme Court bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Mian Saqib Nisar had ruled that the case can be taken to the NAB. Justice Ijazul Ahsan had added that NAB can summon the respondents if it deems fit.
The AML chief has been claiming since Abbasi’s election as prime minister in August this year that the former petroleum minister is guilty of multi-billion rupee corruption.
He states that Abbasi awarded the LNG import contract in 2015 without observing transparency in the bidding process, and seeks a probe into the LNG import contracts claiming that they were commissioned in violation of rules.