ISLAMABAD: The Accountability Court of Islamabad on Thursday extended for 14 more days the physical remand of Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi in the LNG import case.

The prosecution of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) produced Mr Abbasi before Accountability Court Judge Mohammad Bashir.

PML-N leaders Khawaja Moha­mmad Asif, Marriyum Aurangzeb, Dr Musadiq Malik and others reached the court to express solidarity with the detained former prime minister.

Mr Abbasi, who has refused to engage any lawyer for his defence in the case, did not oppose the extension of his physical remand when NAB filed an application for his custody for another 14 days.

He asked the judge to extend the remand as per the demand of the NAB prosecution.

When the judge asked about the progress in investigation into the case, Mr Abbasi said that the investigation team had sought some documents from him and he had responded to the team’s request.

Judge Bashir directed NAB officials to complete the investigation within the 14-day physical remand, and put off the matter till Aug 29.

Mr Abbasi is accused of awarding a 15-year contract for an LNG terminal against rules when he was petroleum minister in the former prime minister Nawaz Sharif’s government.

The PML-N leaders met Mr Abbasi in a vacant courtroom where some local politicians also met him and extended Eid greetings to the detained party leader.

An estranged leader of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, Changaiz Khan, also came to greet Mr Abbasi from Attock district.

He told journalists in the court that he had known Mr Abbasi for decades and he wanted to exchange Eid greetings with him.

In a brief chat with journalists, Mr Abbasi said that he was trying to educate NAB investigation team about the LNG and about the process of awarding a contract for its import.

He said the court had extended his physical remand for another 14 days. He said that in the next 14 days he would be able to educate the NAB team about the process of awarding contract for import of LNG.

“You may call this an adult education programme,” said Mr Abbasi. He said he had requested the court to extend his remand for 90 days.

Under the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO), 1999, NAB can detain a suspect for 90 days. The prosecution is, however, required to produce the suspect before the accountability judge after 14 days’ interval.

On his very first appearance in the accountability court, Mr Abbasi had asked the judge to remand his custody to NAB for three months. The judge, however, reminded him that under the law, the physical remand of a suspect could only be granted for a maximum of 14 days after which the prosecution was bound to produce the suspect before the court if it required further remand of the suspect.

Correction: An earlier version of this article erroneously stated that Shahid Khaqan Abbasi was produced before Accountability Court Judge Mohammad Arshad Malik. The error is regretted.

Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2019