Pakistan's ex-PM Shahid Abbasi held for corruption case

Former PM Shahid Khaqan Abbasi. Pic /ADP

Lahore: Pakistan's anti-graft body on Thursday arrested former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi in a multi-billion-rupee case related to the award of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) import contract.

A National Accountability Bureau (NAB) team intercepted Abbasi's car at Thokar Niaz Baig in Lahore and arrested him. He initially resisted the arrest but eventually conceded. Abbasi, who served as the prime minister from August 2017 to May 2018, had come here from Islamabad to hold a press conference but he was arrested before reaching the venue of the event.

The NAB was probing alleged corruption in the award of contract to import LNG from Qatar by Abbasi when he was minister for petroleum and natural resources in the cabinet of former premier Nawaz Sharif.

Abbasi has denied the charges and said that he would prove his innocence in any court of law. He would be presented before a NAB court to get remand for further investigation.

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