The Accountability Court on Thursday extended physical remand of former prime minister and senior leader of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, till September 26 in the liquefied natural gas (LNG) case. The officials of National Accountability Bureau (NAB) produced Abbasi before Accountability Court Judge Muhammad Bashir on expiry of term of his remand.
The NAB prosecutor requested the court to extend physical remand of Abbasi for another 14 days as the Bureau wants to further investigate him regarding the matter. On this, Abbasi came to the rostrum and said that the case is the same what was stated by the Chief Justice of Pakistan the other day.
Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa on Wednesday said, "We, as a relevant organ of the state, also feel that growing the perception that the process of accountability being pursued in the country at present is lopsided and a part of political engineering is a dangerous perception and some remedial steps need to be taken urgently so that the process does not lose credibility."
Abbasi said that the case made against him is politically motivated. He had suspected that the NAB would make fake case against him, he further told the court, urging the court to grant NAB 90 days remand at once. The court after hearing the arguments reserved its judgment for some time. Later while announcing its judgment, the court extended physical remand of Abbasi till September 26. The NAB had arrested Abbasi from Lahore on July 18 after he failed to appear before a NAB's investigation team in connection with the LNG scam.