ISLAMABAD: Former finance minister Miftah Ismail on Wednesday filed a petition in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) seeking pre-arrest bail in the liquified natural gas (LNG) scandal.
National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Justice (r) Javed Iqbal had last Thursday signed arrest warrants of Miftah Ismail in LNG scandal.
The NAB chief and Secretary Federal Ministry of Law have been made party in the petition.
Ismail earlier secured a protective bail from the Sindh High Court (SHC) on last Friday.
In his petition, Ismail called the charges against him baseless and sought a pre-arrest bail from the high court till completion of the investigation and filing of reference against him in court.
The NAB teams last Thursday conducted raids at his residences in Karachi and Islamabad for his arrest.
Former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has also been arrested by the accountability bureau in the same case last Thursday.
In June 2018, NAB had approved inquiry against former prime minister Abbasi, who was ex-minister for petroleum and natural resources at that time, in granting contract of LNG terminal for 15 years to their ‘favorite’ 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 papers, 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.
The apex court on September 10, 2018, had directed the NAB to complete the inquiry against Abbasi and others for the alleged corruption in the LNG contract.
