Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and others acquitted in LNG terminal case

Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and others accused in the LNG terminal case were acquitted by an accountability court in Islamabad on Tuesday.

The development comes after the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) decided to withdraw its case against Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Miftah Ismail, Sheikh Imranul Haq, Hussain Dawood, Samad Dawood, and others.

Accountability court Judge Nasir Javed Rana conducted today’s hearing where Shahid Khakan Abbasi, along with his lawyers, appeared before the court.

Deputy Prosecutor Azhar Maqbool told the court that the accountability bureau is withdrawing the reference against Abbasi.

The court announced its verdict on a petition filed by NAB seeking the withdrawal of its reference against the former prime minister.

Case History

In 2019, NAB arrested Shahid Khakan Abbasi for alleged corruption while awarding a multi-billion rupee import contract for LNG in 2013 when he served as the minister for petroleum and natural resources.

On July 28, 2020, the NAB chairman approved a supplementary reference against Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, his son Abdullah Khaqan Abbasi, former finance minister Miftah Ismail, ex-chairman of SSGC Board, former CEO of EETPL and MD of PSO, ex-chairman of Port Qasim Authority (PQA) Agha Jan Akhtar, former chairman of OGRA Saeed Ahmed Khan, ex-member of OGRA Aamir Naseem, Uzma, ex-MD of Pakistan State Oil (PSO) Shahid M Islam, and others.

The investigation accused Shahid Khaqan Abbasi through a non-transparent process was awarded the LNG Terminal-1 contract.

The public office holders were accused of misusing their authorities in active connivance with each other to give wrongful gains of Rs14.146 billion to EETL/ETPL/ECL in connection with LNG Terminal-1 of EETL and also caused a wrongful loss of Rs7.438 billion, approximately, for non-utilisation of unused capacity of second LNG Terminal of PGPL from March 2015 to September 2019.

The investigation alleged that total liability amounted to Rs21.584 billion, approximately, till September 2019.

Shahid Khaqan Abbasi was granted bail in 2021 by an accountability court that ruled there was never any conflict over non-transparency in the LNG terminal case.

The court, in its detailed verdict on the bail, said that the NAB’s case is not based on whether or not the former petroleum minister took financial benefit.

“There was no conflict over whether or not there was transparency in the LNG terminal case. The authorised forum gave the approval for the LNG terminal,”  the verdict stated.

The court said whether the LNG terminal was developed in the interest of people or not needs further investigation.

“NAB has not been able to prove why there is a need to keep Shahid Khaqan Abbasi in jail,” said the court.