Ex-PM may get benefit of NAB law tweak

NAB says LNG case falls into FIA’s jurisdiction

ISLAMABAD:

An accountability court on Monday reserved its order after hearing arguments of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and counsel for Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi with regard to transfer of a corruption case to a special court.

Abbasi, who is facing a trial in the Islamabad Accountability Court-1 for alleged irregularities in a deal signed with Qatar for supply of the LNG to Pakistan during his term as the energy minister, had moved an application to the court for transfer of the case to the court of Islamabad’s Special Judge Central.

The PML-N leader, who also served as the country’s prime minister, contended through his counsel that after some amendments made to the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO), 1999—the law that governs NAB—the case had fallen into the jurisdiction of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).

The NAB prosecutor in his arguments agreed with the proposition that the case no longer fell into NAB’s jurisdiction and as the cases related to the FIA are heard by Islamabad’s Special Judge Central that case may also be transferred to the court.

After hearing arguments of both the parties, Islamabad Accountability Court-1 Muhammad Bashir reserved his order, which will be unveiled on July 10.  Earlier, the court also accepted the PML-N leader’s request to grant an exception for him not to attend that day’s hearing of the case.

NAB on December 3, 2019 filed a reference against Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and nine others for allegedly misusing powers in the LNG import agreement, causing a loss of Rs47 billion to the national exchequer.

The anti-corruption watchdog initiated an inquiry against Abbasi and his predecessor Nawaz Sharif over alleged misuse of authority in 2018. Abbasi and a few others were accused of illegally awarding an LNG terminal contract for a period of 15 years to a company of their liking in violation of rules.

The inquiry into the LNG contract case was initiated almost one-and-a-half years after 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 led coalition government amended the NAO, 199 through the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Amendment Bill 2023. The bill became a law on May 30 this year.