ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Wednesday approved an inquiry against former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and his predecessor Nawaz Sharif over misuse of powers to award a LNG terminal contract in violation of the relevant laws, ARY News reported.
The Bureau’s executive board, presided over by NAB chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal, gave the go-ahead to the inquiry against the former premiers who have been accused of misusing their powers to award a contract with regard to a LNG terminal without merit.
Mr Sharif in his capacity as premier and Abbasi as petroleum minister allegedly awarded the contract to their favourite company for fifteen years in violation of the rules and merit, which caused a loss of billions of rupees to the national exchequer.
The NAB also approved investigation against former Chief Minister Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah, former Secretary Culture and Tourism and others for giving contracts against the rules, causing a loss of 127 million rupees to the national exchequer.
It also approved inquires against Chief Minister Punjab Shehbaz Sharif, relevant secretaries, MPA from Chiniot and the administration of Ramzan Sugar Mills Chiniot. They are alleged to have caused a huge loss to the national exchequer.
The Executive Board Meeting of the NAB also approved to launch corruption reference against former Chairman Karachi Port Trust retired Vice Admiral Ahmad Hayat, and former General Manager KPT retired Brigadier Syed Jamshed Zaidi.
It merits mention here that on May 8, the NAB chairman ordered an inquiry over money laundering allegations against Nawaz Sharif, triggering severe criticism from the PML-N.
NAB launched the probe against Mr. Sharif after the World Bank’s migration and remittance book released in September 2016 carried information that foreign exchange reserves of India increased by $4.9 billion after receiving the amount from Pakistan.
The former prime minister has also served a defamation notice on the NAB chief for ordering the probe against him.
 on Wednesday approved an inquiry against former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and his predecessor Nawaz Sharif over misuse of powers to award a LNG terminal contract in violation of the relevant laws, ARY News reported. ){kind=link}