ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s anti-corruption agency has approved an inquiry into former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and his predecessor Nawaz Sharif over a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal project, the agency said on Wednesday.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) ordered the inquiry against Abbasi, Sharif and “others for granting a 15-year contract of LNG terminal to a company of their liking in violation of rules and by misuse of their powers, which caused national exchequer a loss of billions of rupees”.
NAB did not identify which one of the two terminal projects in Pakistan it was referring to.
Abbasi was the mastermind behind Pakistan’s push to embrace LNG after Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party swept to power in a 2013 election. Pakistan is now seen as one of the world’s fastest growing LNG markets. REUTERS