ISLAMABAD: An accountability court on Thursday extended the physical remand of Pakistan’s former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi till August 15 in a case involving a multibillion-rupee liquefied natural gas (LNG) import contract to Qatar.
Abbasi, who is also the vice president of the opposition Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party, was arrested in July and presented in Judge Bashir Ahmed’s court. Speaking to journalists before his trial, Abbasi called his arrest as “an attack on democracy.”
The former prime minister was brought to the same court on Thursday by Pakistan’s anti-graft body, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), that requested the presiding judge to extend Abbasi’s physical remand.
The court granted the request, asking NAB officials to bring him back on August 15.
It may be recalled that NAB ordered an inquiry into Abbasi over the alleged misappropriation of funds in the import of LNG that the agency claimed had caused a loss of about $2 billion to the national exchequer.
He is also being investigated for allegedly granting a 15-year contract for an LNG terminal to a “favored” company. Abbasi rejects the allegations.
Anti graft body extends ex PM Abbasi’s physical remand in Qatar gas deal
Anti graft body extends ex PM Abbasi’s physical remand in Qatar gas deal
- The former prime minister was arrested by NAB in a case involving LNG import contract to Qatar
- Abbasi described the corruption reference against him as ‘an attack on democracy’
