The Accountability Court Friday extended judicial remand of former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, former finance minister Miftah Ismail and ex-managing director (MD) Pakistan State Oil (PSO) Sheikh Imran-ul-Haque till October 28 in the liquefied natural gas (LNG) case. The NAB officials produced Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leaders Abbasi and Ismail, and Haque on expiry of their judicial remand.
During the hearing, Abbasi came to the rostrum and said that the NAB did not file a reference against him despite investigating the case for the last one-and-a-half-year. "The NAB investigators are clueless as to how to make a reference against me," he said, adding that the jail authorities did not allow him to meet with Ismail and other accused as well as his legal team. "How can we defend our case if we don't consult each other?" he questioned. He pleaded the court to issue an order to allow his meeting with other accused in jail. "The order of the court has not been implemented," he said, adding that "the court had allowed us the use of laptop in jail for preparation of our defense."
The judge said that the jail authorities will be asked how meeting of the accused persons can be made possible in jail. The judge asked if it would be possible to hire a joint lawyer. On this, Abbasi said that in this case every accused has a separate counsel.
The counsel of Ismail told the court that jail authorities did not provide homemade food to his client. The accused should be allowed to talk to his family through telephone from jail, he said. The judge said if it is mentioned in jail manual then he will permit him to talk to his family through phone. Abbasi told the court to summon his medical report prepared by the medial board.
The court asked the jail authorities to submit reply about medical report, use of laptop and meeting of the accused persons in jail. The court adjourned the hearing of the case till October 28.
Later taking informally to media persons, Abbasi with a reference to arrest of Nawaz Sharif in Chaudhry Sugar mills case said that arrests of opposition leaders continue but nothing has been proved against them. "The government should fulfill desire of arresting the people," he said, adding that corruption of not a single penny can be proved against him and Nawaz Sharif. He further said that the government is registering fake cases to take political revenge. He said that the NAB officials are pressuring grade-22 officers to become approvers.
To a question about the success of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl's Azadi March, he said that success of the march can be judged from the government's disarray. "Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz has decided to participate in the march and senior party leadership would take part in it," he said.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2019