PML-N's Miftah Ismail remains in prison despite securing bail

Miftah Ismail was granted bail on Tuesday

ISLAMABAD: Former finance minister Miftah Ismail has yet to be released from prison two days after being granted bail by the Islamabad High Court (IHC).

The Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) leader will remain at Adiala Jail on Wednesday as his release has been delayed due to unfulfilled legal requirements.

The IHC issued its detailed verdict at around 3pm on Tuesday but the document could not be submitted in time to the relevant accountability court.

Similarly, Ismail was unable to submit the surety amount on Wednesday as courts remained shut on account of a public holiday marking the birth anniversary of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

The former minister is likely to secure his release on Thursday upon completion of all required legalities.

Earlier this week, a two-member IHC bench – comprising Chief Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb – granted bail to Ismail in the LNG terminal contract case against surety bonds of Rs10 million.

Ismail, who served as the finance minister for hardly over a month in 2018, was arrested by NAB on August 7 this year in the LNG import scandal and was sent to Adiala Jail on judicial remand on September 26.

During the proceedings, Ismail’s counsel pleaded that his client was allegedly recruited as a consultant illegally.

He disclosed that the hiring of the consultant was made by a foreign aid agency and that Ismail was not even on the Sui Southern Gas Company’s (SSGC) board at that time.

Ismail had been on the SSGC board of directors from November 2013 till January 2014, while the NAB reference states that the accused misused their powers and gave Rs21 billion benefit to a private company from March 2015 to September 2019.