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Miftah Ismail's physical remand extended till Aug 30

Miftah Ismail's physical remand extended till Aug 30
August 19, 2019
ISLAMABAD (92 News) – An accountability court on Monday extended the physical remands of former finance minister Miftah Ismail and former MD PSO Imranul Haq till August 30 in the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) case. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) officials presented Miftah Ismail and Imranul Haq before the court of Judge Muhammad Bashir as their 11-day physical remand ended today. During the hearing, Miftah complained to the court that the NAB detained him in a little cell and only allowed for 23 minutes to walk outside the room. “If he walks more than only two minutes from 23, he is instructed to go inside the room,” he added. Later, the court granted physical remand of Miftah and Imranul Haq till August 30. Both Miftah and Haq are facing charges of corruption in the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) tenders and deal. Earlier on July 25, Islamabad High Court (IHC) had granted interim bail to former finance minister Miftah Ismail till August 1st. A division bench of the high court had also granted interim bail to former Managing Director Pakistan State Oil (PSO) Shaikh Imranul Haq in the same case. IHC bench comprises of Acting Chief Justice Mr. Justice Aamir Farooque and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb had heard the case. The court had granted bail to Miftah Ismail and Shaikh Imranul Haq on surety bonds of Rs. 0.5 million each. National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Javed Iqbal had last Thursday signed arrest warrants of Miftah Ismail in LNG scandal.
LNG Scandal
In June 2018, NAB had approved inquiry against Khaqan Abbasi, who was ex-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.