Lahore, Jan. 29 (TNS): Punjab government has requested NAB to tighten noose around the powerful people involved in fraud to grab Chiniot mineral resources amounting to $915 billion.
Chairman NAB Justice Javed Iqbal has ordered watchdog’s Lahore Director General to probe the alleged corruption and irregularities done by then PML-Q led government in awarding the contract to a fake company.
The anti-graft shall also see why the case was not taken seriously earlier.
The reserves were allotted to the company without a competitive bidding.
“The NAB Lahore has also been directed to ascertain the reasons behind closing the inquiry so that the responsibility could be fixed and an action be taken against the responsible officers. The guidance could be sought from the decisions of the high court and Supreme Court”.
The reserves were allotted to the company without a competitive bidding. As per agreement, 80 percent profit from this national asset was to go to EPRL (a firm which was neither registered nor had it any office in Pakistan at the time of the signing of the agreement).
When Shehbaz Sharif took over as the chief minister, the Punjmin MD requested him in April 2008 to review the case and look into the deal signed by the caretaker government. The Punjab CM, on a note from the then mines secretary Saifullah Chattha ordered ACE to look into the matter.
The ERPL moved the Lahore High Court, pleading since the deal had already been signed, they should be given control of the reserves.
The Punjab government contested the case and the LHC annulled the deal, ordering NAB to look into the matter. The Punjab CM had already ordered ACE to launch probe.
The provincial government prayed to the court that the Punjab ACE, and not the NAB chairman, be allowed to hold an inquiry as directed by the CM. The request was not accepted by the court.
The NAB submitted its inquiry report in LHC in April 2013 and declared that the accused had tried to get a license through fraud with the intention to cause loss to the national exchequer. The LHC, in its final order on November 12, 2014, observed: “The office is directed to consign the file to the record.”
On March 2016, Mines and Mineral Department, after holding final and detailed consultations with legal experts in the light of the NAB and ACE reports, directed the Faisalabad ACE to go ahead with the investigation. The Faisalabad ACE, after conducting further inquiry, booked Sibtain, Imtiaz Cheema, Basharatullah, Muhammad Aslam, Mian Abdus Sattar, Idrees Rizwani and Arshad Waheed on April 15, 2016.
Sources said more facts about the fake deal would surface after registration of the case. “It is just the tip of an iceberg. What follows will be shocking,” they said.
