Ex-PM Abbasi indicted in PSO hiring case

An accountability court in Karachi on Wednesday indicted former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and three others in a reference filed by the country’s top anti-graft body in connection with alleged illegal appointments to the Pakistan State Oil (PSO).

Abbasi, who is the senior vice president of the opposition PML-N, pleaded not guilty following which the court issued notices to the respondents and witnesses. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had  filed a reference against Abbasi and former petroleum secretary Arshad Mirza for allegedly appointing Sheikh Imranul Haq as managing director and Yaqoob Sattar as deputy managing director (finance) of the PSO in violation of rules and regulations.

The former premier, Mirza, Haq and Sattar appeared before the court, where the charges were read out.

After the accused pleaded not guilty, the hearing was adjourned till August 27.

Speaking to reporters after the court proceedings, the PML-N leader said he was “grateful” that NAB had only accused him of misuse of authority instead of implicating him in a corruption case involving billions of rupees.

“The Supreme Court has already pointed out that NAB was being used as a tool to achieve political objectives and harass rival politicians,” he added.

“Today is Youm-e-Istehsal and the nation is united to express solidarity with the people of Kashmir. Unfortunately, the government was unable to take the opposition on board.”

NAB has also named Abbasi, his son Abdullah Khaqan Abbasi, former finance minister Miftah Ismail and others in a case pertaining to the awarding of the LNG Terminal-1 contract through a non-transparent process.

The anti-graft watchdog alleges that the accused awarded the LNG Terminal-1 contract through a non-transparent process. NAB claimed that the accused public office holders misused their authority in connivance with other accused to ensure wrongful gains to the EETL/ETPL/ECL amounting to Rs14.146 billion. Besides, they caused a wrongful loss of an estimated Rs7.438 billion for non-utilisation of unused capacity of the second LNG terminal of PGPL [Pakistan GasPort Limited] from March 2015 till September 2019, claims NAB.

According to NAB, the actions of the accused resulted in an estimated liability of Rs21.584 billion as of September 2019.

The anti-graft watchdog claims that further loss to be incurred for the next 10 years will amount to approximately Rs47 billion as the contract in question is to expire in March 2029.

The bureau alleges that during the time period in question, unexplained deposits amounting to Rs1.426 billion were received in the accounts of Abdullah Khaqan Abbasi, while Rs1.294 billion was deposited in Shahid Khaqan Abbasi's bank account during 2013-17.