LNG contract case: Abbasi rejects allegations levelled against him

Shahid Khaqan Abbasi says the agreements were made as per national and the international laws

ISLAMABAD: Former premier and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Thursday once again rejected all allegations levelled against him in the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) contract case.

LNG contract case: Shahid Khaqan Abbasi excuses himself from appearing before NAB 

Abbasi appeared before the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Thursday in an ongoing probe into the case.

The former premier also answered the questions thrown at him by the NAB including the ones pertaining to the records received by the ministry of petroleum.

According to Abbasi, “The LNG agreements were made as per national and the international laws. They were devoid of any kind of misconduct”.

“Whenever the NAB will ask me to appear in its office, I will be here,” assured the PML-N leader.

In 2018, the anti-corruption watchdog initiated an inquiry against former premiers Abbasi and Nawaz Sharif over alleged misuse of authority.

Abbasi and 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 was initiated 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.

NAB summons Shahid Khaqan Abbasi in LNG contract case

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.