As the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) failed to file the final supplementary reference in the LNG case and got one more month from the accountability court, PML-N senior leader Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said there was neither any evidence nor any case.

During the hearing on Friday, the accountability court judge, Azam Khan, directed NAB to file the final supplementary reference by August 6 after completing the investigation and warned that it was the last deadline.

He also remarked that the accused would be indicted only after the supplementary reference was filed.

The NAB was able to get more time from the court as the prosecutor, Usman Mirza, said they required three to four weeks to finalise the reference.

Sheikh Imran-ul-Haq, the counsel for the former prime minister, complained that they were appearing before the court but there had been no progress in the proceedings.

Similarly, Barrister Zafarullah, who is leading the defence counsel, requested the court to adjourn the hearing till NAB files the reference, saying the anti-graft body had been giving them questionnaires for the last two years without any result.

Talking to reporters after the hearing, Abbasi said they wished to see the PTI government completing the five-year term, but added that Imran Khan must tell [the people] who wanted to minus him from the PTI.

The former prime minister said there was neither any evidence nor any case and the NAB was being used only to exert pressure. They had failed to prove any allegation despite keeping him in detention for around eight months, he added.

He said arrests were made first and cases filed later as the only purpose of the exercise to defame the politicians. It was easy to level allegations, Abbasi added.

Raja Pervaiz Ashraf was acquitted after 12 years, he noted and questioned who was responsible for defamation and character assassination faced by him for all those years.

Abbasi also repeated his demand for showing the NAB interrogation and the accountability court proceedings live on TV.