Accountability court revokes non-bailable arrest warrant for Shahid Khaqan in LNG case

An accountability court in Islamabad on Tuesday revoked non-bailable arrest warrant issued to former prime minister and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi in the liquefied natural gas (LNG) reference.

Earlier during the day, the court had issued non-bailable arrest warrants for Shahid Khaqan and former Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra) chairperson Uzma Adil. The warrants were issued owing to failure to appear before the court and file an exemption plea.

Subsequently, Shahid Khaqan's counsel lodged a petition for nullification of the warrant which was approved by the court.

LNG case: AC adjourns proceedings against Khaqan, others as judge’s tenure expires

In November 2020, Shahid, Uzma and others were indicted in the case and 64 charges were slapped against 12 accused.

The court alleged that the accused awarded the LNG Terminal-1 contract through a non-transparent process.

Defence counsel remain absent: AC adjourns LNG case against Khaqan till 10th

Public office holders were allegedly accused of misusing their authorities in active connivance with each other to give wrongful gains of Rs14.146 billion to EETL/ETPL/ECL in connection with LNG Terminal-1 of EETL and also purportedly caused a wrongful loss of Rs7.438 billion, approximately, for non-utilisation of unused capacity of second LNG Terminal of PGPL from March 2015 to September 2019.

Hence, the total liability amounts to Rs21.584 billion, approximately, till September 2019.

Further losses to be incurred for the next 10 years will amount to Rs47 billion, approximately, as the said contract will expire in March 2029, it was alleged.

No one should be defamed under false cases: ex-PM

Abbasi was granted bail in 2021 by an accountability court that ruled there was never any conflict over non-transparency in the LNG terminal case.