Court Extends Judicial Remand Of Sibtain Khan, Others

Court extends judicial remand of Sibtain Khan, others

An accountability court on Friday extended judicial remand of former provincial minister Sibtain Khan and other accused in Chiniot mining contract case till September 6

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 23rd Aug, 2019 ) :An accountability court on Friday extended judicial remand of former provincial minister Sibtain Khan and other accused in Chiniot mining contract case till September 6.

Accountability Court Judge Naeem Arshad conducted the proceedings wherein former minister Sibtain Khan, and other accused were produced on expiry of the remand term.

The court was apprised that National Accountability Bureau had not filed the reference against the accused yet, in response to a query.

At this, the court directed bureau for filing the reference by the next date of hearing. Subsequently, the court adjourned the further proceedings till September 6, while extending the judicial remand of the all accused.

It is 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.

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.