ISLAMABAD (DNA) – Accountability court on Tuesday has extended judicial remand of former premier and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) senior leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and ex-finance minister Miftah Ismail till December 3 in liquefied natural gas (LNG) scandal.

During the hearing, the court has directed the authorities to file reference against the accused as early as possible.

It is to be mentioned here that the apex court on September 10, 2018 directed the NAB to complete the inquiry against Abbasi 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.

In January, the NAB interrogated former finance minister Miftah Ismail in the same case.

According to NAB documents, the contract for the LNG import and distribution was awarded to the Elengy Terminal, a subsidiary of Engro, in 2013 in violation of the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules and relevant laws.