ISLAMABAD - An Accountability Court (AC) on Thursday granted National Accountability Bureau (NAB) an eleven-day physical remand of former finance minister Miftah Ismail and ex-managing director PSO Sheikh Imranul Haq in LNG import agreement case.

The NAB produced the accused before duty judge Tahir Mehmood a day after their arrest from court premises on rejection of interim bail plea by the Islamabad High Court (IHC).

As the hearing began, the judge asked the NAB prosecutor to inform the court about the cause of arrest to which NAB investigation officer (IO) presented the copy of arrest warrants against former finance minister. The NAB team also submitted medical report of the accused to the judge.

The NAB prosecutor prayed to the court to grant fifteen days of physical remand of Miftah Ismail.

Opposing the NAB’s request, Miftah’s lawyer stated that the Bureau had informed the IHC on the previous day that investigation into the matter had been concluded. However, the court granted NAB physical remand of the two accused till August 19.

It may be mentioned here that former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi had also been arrested in the same case. People nominated in the case are accused of setting extra price of LNG in agreement with Qatar and causing a loss of Rs1.5 billion to the national exchequer.