ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) senior leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Tuesday appeared before the joint investigation team of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in connection to the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) contract case.
The four-member joint investigation team (JIT) interrogated the former premier for two hours. During the interrogation process, the team asked him 70 questions related to the LNG contract.
Talking to journalists after appearing before investigators, Abbasi said that no allegations were levelled against him. “I responded to all the questions and have not been summoned again by NAB authorities,” he said.
The anti-corruption watchdog, in 2018, initiated an inquiry against former premiers Abbasi and Nawaz Sharif over alleged misuse of authority.
Abbasi and few others had been accused of illegally awarding LNG terminal contract for a period of 15 years to a company of their liking in violation of defined rules, ‘thus inflicting billions of rupees losses to the national exchequer’.
The inquiry into the LNG contract case had been initiated almost one-and-a-half year after the NAB Karachi office closed a similar inquiry against Abbasi for his alleged role in the award of a multi-billion rupee contract for the import and distribution of LNG.
The PML-N government in its tenure from 2013-2018 completed two LNG terminals, while just days before completion of its term, on May 31, it stopped the Port Qasim Authority (PQA) from going ahead with bidding for the allocation of a site for constructing a third terminal.