Indictment of Gilani, others delayed till Jan 12

Judge issues warrants of foreign consultants in LNG reference

An accountability court in Islamabad on Monday postponed the indictment of former prime minister Yusuf Raza Gilani and others because of the absence of some of the accused and adjourned the hearing until January 12.

Accountability Court Judge Azam Khan heard the reference pin relation to awarding illegal contracts against the former prime minister. Gilani appeared in court on Monday. However, the charges could not be framed because of the absence of the other accused.

The court fixed a new date for indictment of the accused and adjourned the hearing until January 12. The judge ordered for ensuring the attendance of the accused in the court on the next hearing. Later, talking to the media, Gilani said that one of the accused was out of the country, while the other was ill.

In another reference, Judge Azam Khan issued non-bailable arrest warrants for two foreign consultants for not attending the hearings of the LNG reference against former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and others.

In the reference filed by NAB, Abbasi is accused of awarding the 15-year contract for the LNG Terminal-I against rules when he was petroleum minister in the cabinet of then prime minister Nawaz Sharif. Two foreign consultants Phillip Nutman and Shana Sadiq were also among those nominated in the case.

During the hearing, the investigating officer (IO) presented the compliance report of the summons and bailable warrants of the accused, which were sent to the UK through the Pakistan High Commission. He informed the court that the accused were not appearing despite receiving summons and warrants.

In another accountability court, Judge Syed Asghar Ali adjourned the hearing of a reference against former chairperson of Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) Farzana Raja and others after the IO in the case sought time to report on the arrest warrants of co-accused Iffat Zahra and Shoaib Khan.

The case pertained to causing Rs540 million loss to the national exchequer. During the hearing, NAB Prosecutor Wasim Javed, defence counsel Sardar Ismat appeared before the court. The court adjourned the hearing till January 19.

Judge Asghar also conducted the hearing of the DRAP reference. The IO in the case informed the court that the co-accused Muhammad Sabir is abroad and he was not appearing in the court. The court ordered issuance of an advert for Sabir’s attendance and adjourned the hearing till January 18.