NAB summons Shahid Khaqan Abbasi in LNG contract case

Former premier expected to appear before NAB on Friday

RAWALPINDI: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Wednesday summoned former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi in an ongoing probe pertaining to the liquefied natural gas (LNG) contract case, Express News reported.

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader is expected to appear before the accountability watchdog's Rawalpindi registry on Friday.



In 2018, the anti-graft body initiated a probe 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-year to a company of their liking in violation of defined rules, ‘thus inflicting billions of rupees losses to the national kitty’.

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.