A senior official said that questions asked by the CIT were related to the reason of necessity of the contract, the person who had approved the conditions of the contract, the number of visits he (Abbasi) conducted to Qatar for formulating the contract, and how the contract was signed against rules and regulations, and misuse of authority for approval of the contract.
He said that the CIT also handed over a questionnaire to Abbasi and asked him to furnish the replies of the questions to CIT before February 28. The NAB's CIT will examine the replies given by Abbasi during his appearance, he said, adding that Chairman NAB former Justice Javed Iqbal is directly supervising the investigations against the former prime minister.
In a brief chat with media persons, Abbasi said that he answered all the questions asked by NAB investigators. The NAB on January 2 had converted an inquiry into investigation against Abbasi for alleged misuse of powers with respect to the LNG terminal project.
The Bureau approved launching an investigation against Abbasi who served as former petroleum minister, Arshad Mirza, former secretary petroleum, Sheikh Imran-ul-Haq, former managing director Pakistan State Oil (PSO), and other officials at its Executive Board Meeting (EBM) presided over by Chairman NAB Justice Javed Iqbal (retd) on January 2 this year.
The Supreme Court on September 10, 2018 had directed the NAB to complete inquiry into the matter and submit its report. The case was registered in 2015 on the complaint of Shahid Sattar, an energy expert at the NAB Karachi, against Abbasi for awarding the LNG import contract which allegedly caused a huge loss to the national exchequer.
In February this year, the Supreme Court fixed a plea filed by President Awami Muslim League (AML) Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, seeking disqualification of Abbasi over alleged corruption in the award of LNG import contract. The petition requested the Supreme Court to order NAB to take action against Abbasi in this regard.