An accountability court on Wednesday extended judicial remand of former provincial minister Sibtain Khan and three others in Chiniot mining contract case till July 31.
Accountability Court Judge Ameer Muhammad Khan conducted the proceedings, wherein, former minister Sibtain Khan, former secretary Mines and Minerals Department Imtiaz Ahmed, former manager operations and planning Muhammad Aslam, and former chief inspector mines Punjab Abdul Sattar were produced on expiry of the remand term.
The court directed the National Accountability Bureau officials for filing the investigation report by the next date of hearing after it was apprised the bureau had not filed the report yet.
It was pertinent to mention here that Sibtain Khan resigned from his position as provincial minister for Forestry, Fisheries and Wildlife after being arrested by the bureau on June 15, 2019.
Sibtain Khan was arrested on charges of illegally awarding a multi-billion-dollar contract to an alleged fake company in 2007.
As a Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) minister for mines and minerals at that time, he had awarded a contract for extracting minerals in Chiniot district.
The NAB had also accused former secretary Imtiaz Ahmad of constituting a committee comprising Muhammad Aslam and Abdul Sattar on the directions of then minister Sibtain Khan for approval of the said contract.
During the process, former chief inspector mines Abdul Sattar provided a fake survey to the technical committee.
Also, the operations manager Muhammad Aslam provided fake financial and technical figures. NAB alleged that the accused, in connivance with former minister, made a joint venture with the company.—APP
