The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday approved interim bail of former minister for finance Miftah Ismail on a petition he had filed in the liquefied natural gas (LNG) case.
Ismail, in his petition, had requested the IHC to restrain the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) from arresting him and sought a pre-arrest bail. IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah granted him an interim bail till May 7 against two surety bonds of Rs500,000 each. However, he has been directed to cooperate with the NAB officials in the investigation.
He expressed apprehensions that NAB might arrest him which would be disgraceful and humiliating for him. “NAB is conducting a baseless inquiry against me. It is subjecting me to political victimisation,” he had stated. The apex court on September 10, 2018 directed the NAB to complete the inquiry against former premier Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Miftah Ismail and others for the alleged corruption in the LNG contract.
As the minister for petroleum and natural resources, he has been accused of granting contract on LNG Terminal to ETPL, Tri-partial agreement, LSA with EETPL and LNG import from Qatar etc.
In June 2018, the NAB approved inquiry against former premier Nawaz Sharif and Abbasi, who was the former minister for petroleum and natural resources at that time, in granting contract of LNG terminal for 15 years to their ‘favourite’ company. It was also observed that this contract had allegedly caused a loss of billions of rupees to the national exchequer. The NAB in January interrogated former finance minister Miftah Ismail in the same case.
