LNG terminal reference: IHC grants bail to PSO ex-MD

ISLAMABAD: Former Managing Director Pakistan State Oil (PSO) Sheikh Imran-ul-Haq Tuesday got post-arrest bail from the Islamabad High Court (IHC) in Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminal reference.A division bench of Islamabad High Court, comprising Chief Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Mian Gull Hassan Aurangzeb, took up his bail plea.Haq’s counsel argued that his client had been in the custody of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) for the last four months, while the Bureau had not yet submitted its written reply in the matter.He said another contract had been awarded six months ago for the second LNG terminal as well as the earlier the tender for LNG terminal was awarded after adopting a thorough procedure through auction. Justice Athar asked the NAB prosecutor how did the ex-MD misused his authority in awarding the tender. “In this case, the NAB had not justified how the tender was awarded unlawfully,” he added. Justice Minallah stressed that the prosecution side should satisfy the court whether the authority had been misused or not. To this, the NAB investigation officer replied that the accused was the owner of four different companies, while the contract for LNG terminal was expected to be awarded to a small-scale company. Justice Athar remarked that so far the NAB had failed to prove how Imran-ul-Haq had misused his authority. The court accepted his application and granted him post-arrest bail.

from The News International - Top Story https://ift.tt/2Dlf712