Abbasi says will not contest polls

Hearing of LNG reference against ex-PM, others adjourned till February 13, 2024

ISLAMABAD:

Former Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi announced on Tuesday that he will not participate in the upcoming general elections scheduled for February 8.

Addressing the media after appearing in an accountability court in Islamabad, the former PML-N leader expressed his frustration with the prolonged case against him, which has been pending in court for four years with no witnesses coming forward.

Abbasi voiced his discontent, highlighting that, for a mere procedural matter in a meeting, he has had to navigate in and out of accountability courts and that "today’s NAB chairman does not even know that people’s lives are being destroyed”.

Referring to the apex court, he said it has opened at night for certain high-profile cases, but it has failed to take notice of other cases pending in courts for years

Earlier, the lawyer of the ex-PMLN leader had appeared at the accountability court before Judge Muhammad Bashir in the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) reference against Abbasi.

Read NAB a problem of our own making: Abbasi

His counsel had pleaded that as there was an intra-court appeal before the SC, the court should adjourn the hearing.

Abbasi is one of the 15 accused in the LNG reference and appeared before the court on Tuesday. The hearing has been adjourned till February 13, 2024.

The NAB filed a reference on December 3, 2019, against Abbasi, former finance minister Miftah Ismail, former chairperson of the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) Uzma Adil Khan and others for allegedly misusing powers in the LNG import agreement, allegedly causing a loss of Rs47 billion to the national exchequer.

Abbasi and the others were accused of illegally awarding the 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 in 2019, almost one-and-a-half year 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.