Former Pak PM Shahid Khaqan Abbasi arrested

Former Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi was on Wednesday arrested by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in connection with a corruption case.

Abbasi was nabbed on his way to Lahore for a press conference, becoming the country's third high-profile politician to be arrested after Nawaz Sharif and Asif Ali Zardari.

Abbasi was arrested in connection with the liquefied natural gas (LNG) scam, where he and others are accused of illegally awarding LNG terminal contracts for a period of 15 years to a company of their liking in violation of defined rules, incurring losses to the state exchequer, The Express Tribune reported.

"Shahid Khaqan Abbasi... is accused of commission of the offence of corruption and corrupt practices under section 9(a) of National Accountability Offence, 1999," an order by NAB said.

"He shall be produced before the court for authorisation of detention for such period as may be necessary for finalisation of the investigation," it added.

Last year, NAB had launched an investigation against Abbasi and former prime minister Nawaz Sharif over the alleged misuse of authority.

The anti-graft watchdog had summoned Abbasi in the matter earlier today.

Abbasi served as the prime minister from August 2017 to May 2018, following the disqualification of Sharif from office by the Pakistan Supreme Court over the Panama Papers scandal.

In December last year, an accountability court had handed a seven-year prison sentence to Sharif in the Al-Azizia Steel Mills case and imposed hefty fines. He is currently serving his term at the Kot Lakhpat Jail in Lahore.

On June 10, former president Zardari was arrested by the NAB in connection with the fake accounts case. An accountability court has extended his physical remand till June 29.