ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Tuesday lodged a case against nine suspects including former petroleum minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and former finance minister Miftah Ismail in the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) import case in an accountability court of Islamabad.

An ex- secretary of the petroleum ministry has become an approver in the case. While, names of all the nine suspects including former Pakistan State Oil (PSO) managing director Sheikh Imranul Haq have been put on the Exit Control List (ECL).

They have been accused of involvement in the illegal provision of benefit of more than 21 billion rupees to a company through the contract.

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The said company yielded benefit from the contract between March 2015 and September 2019, causing a loss worth 47 billion rupees to the national exchequer till 2029.

The anti-graft body is investigating the contract matter with Qatar. While the court has extended the judicial remand of the former PM and former finance minister.

The court has postponed the case till December 16.

A NAB team had on July 19 arrested PML-N stalwart Shahid Khaqan Abbasi from Lahore and then brought to Islamabad. The NAB chairman had issued arrest warrants for the suspect in LNG case.

The development came after he skipped the court hearing. An accountability court had summoned Abbasi in the case on July 18.

In April this year, the federal government had imposed a travel ban on Abbasi, Miftah Ismail, and five others in the same case.