Court reserves verdict on acquittal pleas of co-accused in LNG reference.

ISLAMABAD -- An Accountability Court (AC) on Tuesday reserved its judgment on the acquittal pleas of co-accused in LNG reference against former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and others.

AC-II Judge Nasir Javed reserved the decision after listening to arguments from the respondents. At the outset of the hearing, the NAB prosecutor opposed the acquittal pleas and prayed the court to decide the matter with regard to the jurisdiction only instead of acquitting the accused.

The forum for this case would be different, he said, adding that there was a corrupt and nontransparent practice in LNG agreement. He further said that it was the top court which took suo-moto action on LNG agreement, adding that anti-money laundering clauses were also included in the reference.

The prosecutor said that the NAB was also viewing the cases of money laundering and fake bank accounts.

Former prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi arrived at the court rostrum and said that these...