LAHORE: Former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi was arrested by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Thursday from the outskirts of Lahore. Abbasi was reportedly arrested for his involvement in the Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) scandal.
In 2018, the anti-corruption watchdog initiated an inquiry against former premiers Abbasi and Nawaz Sharif over alleged misuse of authority.
Abbasi and others had been accused of illegally awarding LNG terminal contract for a period of 15 years to a company of their liking in violation of defined rules, ‘thus inflicting billions of rupees losses to the national exchequer’.
The inquiry was initiated after the NAB Karachi office closed a similar inquiry against Abbasi for his alleged role in the award of a multi-billion rupee contract for the import and distribution of LNG.
The PML-N government in its tenure from 2013-2018 completed two LNG terminals while just days before completion of its term on May 31, it stopped the Port Qasim Authority (PQA) from going ahead with bidding for the allocation of a site for constructing a third terminal.
