Daily Times

ISLAMAHAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has not wrapped up an investigation into a multi-billion-rupee corruption scam wherein the contract for construction of a Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal at Port Qasim has been awarded illegally, an official source told Daily Times on Tuesday.

The investigation into this scam is not over yet, said a senior NAB official. He said that Petroleum Secretary Arshad Mirza, Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and members of the board of the Pakistan LNG Terminal Limited (PLTL) would be grilled further in this case. The Petroleum Ministry gave an impression by getting news reports published in the media that investigation into the LNG scam was over, but the senior official at the NAB headquarters dispelled this impression, saying the contract was awarded to blue-eyed companies in a non-transparent way. The board of directors of the PLTL approved the bid of the Fauji Oil Terminal and Distribution Company Limited (FOTCO) along with the Pakistan Gasport Limited, which was the lowest bidder for construction of the second LNG terminal at the Port Qasim near Karachi. The successful bidder offered a service charge of $ 0.4177 per MMBTU for a capacity of 600 MMCFD.

The project has to be completed in 11 months, according to the documents available with this scribe.

The source privy to this development said the NAB started a probe into the scam when the government was planning to award this contract to its blue-eyed companies. The source said the federal petroleum sectary was summoned by the NAB investigators for questioning about the LNG terminal project. In the light of the information extracted from him, the probe is going in the right direction. The NAB would not allow anyone to plunder the national wealth in the name of development, the source said.

The second bidder, Akbar Association, has also challenged the approval of the contract in the court and its appeal is still pending. The government has now awarded this contract to the companies violating the official rules.

The NAB source said that during the initial proceedings into the scam, it was emerged that children of some politicians were playing a key role in award of the contract and now this aspect of the case would also be investigated.

Daily Time made several attempts to reach to officials of the Petroleum Ministry for their comments on the issue, but to no avail.

According to the source, PLTL members having links with the companies linked to the LNG terminal scam would be investigated and punished if found guilty of any malpractice.

The incumbent government wanted to set up the LNG terminal at Port Qasim to import LNG to tackle the energy crisis and set up LNG-fuelled power plants in Punjab and Sindh. The federal government planned to generate 3,600 megawatts of electricity through LNG-based power plants to overcome the energy crisis in the country. The NAB source said that opinion of LNG experts and OGRA officials would be sought on the LNG terminal case. Pakistan’s first LNG terminal was commissioned last year and it was now supplying 400 MMCFD gas to Sui Southern Gas Company Limited at $0.6601 per MMBTU tariff.

Apart from the LNG terminal, the government wanted to complete the Iran-Pakistan gas project and the Tajikistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project to overcome the energy shortage, but it has not been able to execute these projects due to political reasons.

When contacted, the petroleum minister said that investigation into the scam was over.