Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has grilled Board of Investment (BoI) Chairman Miftah Ismail over Rs 462 billion corruption scam pertaining to LPG extract agreement between Sui Southern Gas Company Limited and Jamshoro Joint Venture Limited (JJVL). Ismail is considered to be the right-hand man of the prime minister. A source told Daily Times that NAB was probing the JJVL scam for the last many months. Ismail was summoned in NAB office Karachi and was inquired about his role in the corruption scam that had caused a huge financial loss to the national exchequer.

NAB wanted to assess his role whether he could be held accountable in the scam or not, the source said.

The source also said that the investigation officer has not yet submitted a final report.

The source added that when this scam was being cooked up in SSGPL Ismail was a member of its board of directors which allegedly approved the agreement.

Former petroleum minister Dr Asim, former petroleum secretary Ijaz Chaudhry, former SSGPL MD Shoaib Siddiqui, Basharat Mirza, Zaheer Siddiqui, Azeem Iqbal, Yousaf Ansari, Malik Aman, Masood Jafari and Ather Hussain had looted the kitty mercilessly.

The source said Ismail has shared useful information which can lead the ongoing investigation in the right direction. When the BoI chairman was told to appear before the NAB officer whenever contacted he gave a positive response.

Daily Times contacted Miftah Ismail several times for his comment but he did not respond. He is still a member of the board of directors of SSGC and had played a key role in LNG import from Qatar and other countries.