An Accountability Court (AC) on Wednesday sought comments from the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on a plea seeking to terminate the LNG reference against former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Finance Minister Miftah Ismail and others. AC-II Judge Muhammad Azam Khan heard the reference lodged by NAB. Shahid Khaqan Abbasi appeared before the court along with his legal team. At the outset of hearing, the defence lawyer adopted the stance that the things were cleared after the amendments to NAB Ordinance, adding that the reference didn’t fall in jurisdiction of the accountability court. At this, the judge asked whether any accused had filed application to the court in this regard.
Defence counsel Barrister Qasim Abbasi said that they were ready to submit the application on it. He said that the matter approved by the cabinet, ECC and other relevant bodies didn’t fall under the jurisdiction of NAB. He contended that this reference was not maintainable. Meanwhile, the co-accused Chaudhry Muhammad Aslam submitted a plea seeking to quash the reference under NAB amendment Act, 2022. However, the NAB prosecutor opposed the request and said that no approval had been taken from cabinet for LNG contract. He alleged that the accused had taken financial benefits from the contract. The prosecutor said that there were also clauses of anti-money laundering in the reference. The court, however, adjourned hearing on the case till October 4, while seeking comments from the NAB.Meanwhile, talking to media, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi asked ex-NAB chairman Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal to present himself before the public for accountability and divulge his assets details. The PML-N leader said former prime minister Imran Khan had ruined the economy during his around four-year “misrule”. He had weakened the state institutions during his tenure, which was marred by bad governance and corruption, he alleged.