Chiniot Mines And Minerals Reference Adjourned Till April 23

Sumaira FH Published March 14, 2024 | 10:54 PM

An accountability court on Thursday adjourned the hearing of Chiniot mines and minerals reference against former Punjab Assembly speaker Sibtain Khan and others till April 23

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th Mar, 2024) An accountability court on Thursday adjourned the hearing of Chiniot mines and minerals reference against former Punjab Assembly speaker Sibtain Khan and others till April 23.

The court sought arguments from parties on acquittal applications of the accused, on the next date of hearing.

Accountability Court Judge Zubair Shahzad Kiyani heard the reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

Sibtain Khan and other accused appeared before the court, during the proceedings, and marked their attendance.

Earlier, an accountability court on October 6, 2022, had returned the Chiniot mines and minerals reference to the NAB with an observation that it lacked jurisdiction to proceed further in the case after the amendments introduced in the NAB law.

However, the reference was reopened on the NAB request after the defunct amendments in the law were set aside by the Supreme Court.

Besides Sibtain Khan , Salman Ghani, Muhammad Aslam, Abdul Sattar Mian, Imtiaz Ahmad Cheema and others had been named as the accused in the reference. The bureau had alleged that Sibtain Khan exceeded his powers and awarded a multi-billion contract to a firm of his choice during 2007 when he was minister for mines and minerals in the PML-Q government. The bureau stated the company that was given the contract had a paid-up capital of Rs2.5 million only and also lacked the experience required for the project.