NAB seeks security as approvers receive threats in LNG scam case

ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has sought security from the higher authorities for its approvers in Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) scam case as they received threats before testifying in the court, ARY News reported on Thursday.

The anti-corruption watchdog wrote letters to Interior Ministry, Inspector General (IG) Islamabad police, chief secretary and Inspector General Sindh police for providing security to two suspects after they turned approvers in LNG scam case.

The letter read that additional security arrangement should be made for former managing-director of Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) Zuhair Siddiqui and Inter-State Gas Systems (ISGS) MD Mubeen Saulat.

It is said that the two persons are key witnesses in the case after they turned approvers after the formal permission of NAB chairman Justice Retd Javed Iqbal. The approvers sought additional security arrangements following threats, the letter said.

It emerged earlier that the anti-graft watchdog will produce an overall 59 witnesses in the court where the petitioner Sheikh Rasheed will be the first witness in the case.

Read: Sheikh Rasheed becomes witness against Abbasi in LNG scam case

On December 12, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had filed the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) reference again after addressing objections raised by the accountability court.

The reference was filed against 10 accused including former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, former finance minister Miftah Ismail and others.

The registrar of the accountability court had earlier raised objections over the reference submitted in Islamabad accountability court.

The NAB reference has been comprised of 8000 pages and shifted to the accountability court II from the court number I of Islamabad. The court has accepted the reference for hearing. Accountability Judge Azam Khan will hear the LNG reference.

Former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi had been arrested in connection with the case in July. He is accused of awarding a 15-year contract for a terminal against the rules when he was the petroleum minister in former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s cabinet. The case was closed by NAB in 2016 but then reopened in 2018.