NAB court to hear LNG reference against Shahid Khaqan Abbasi today

ISLAMABAD: An accountability court in Islamabad will conduct the hearing of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) scam reference against the former prime minister and Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) senior vice president Shahid Khaqan Abbasi today, ARY News reported on Thursday.

Judge Azam Khan of the accountability court will hear the corruption reference against Shahid Khaqan Abbasi at 12:00 noon today.

Earlier, the court had directed for submission of the original report in compliance with the orders, whereas, the high commission had apprised the court yesterday regarding the compliance of its orders.

According to the supplementary reference, the PML-N leader had been receiving funds from Trinity Company located in the UAE, said to be working with an India-based firm, Siddhart Private Limited.

Read: Abbasi, son appear before NAB court in LNG supplementary reference

A sum of $538,895 was transferred to Ex-PM Abbasi’s account in three instalments from a Dubai bank, the reference revealed, adding that the UAE government provided the national graft buster with evidence in this regard as the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) also confirmed these transactions.

However, NAB added, the former prime minister, when confronted, was unable to give a satisfactory explanation as to these transactions. It disclosed that more than Rs637 million funds were transferred to the accounts of Abbasi and his son Abdullah.

Former prime minister Abbasi, Miftah Ismail, ex-PSO MD Imranul Haq and others are facing charges of corruption over awarding LNG import contract allegedly at exorbitant rates in 2015, which caused a big loss to the national exchequer.