NAB arrests businessman in LNG case

Suspect taken into custody at his office in Lahore

LAHORE: A team of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Karachi arrested a businessman in Lahore on Wednesday in connection with the LNG import case.

According to a NAB statement, the suspect, Iqbal Z Ahmed, was taken into custody when he reached his office.

Initially, he resisted the arrest. However, when the team produced his warrant and other related documents, he gave in.

Ahmed’s company reportedly owns the LNG import terminal at Port Qasim in Karachi.

He will be shifted to Karachi for further investigation.

The anti-corruption body has already arrested former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and former finance minister Miftah Ismail in connection with the case.

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.

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.