LAHORE: A Lahore High Court division bench on Wednesday granted bail to former provincial minister Sibtain Khan in a case of awarding unlawful contract for extracting precious minerals in Chiniot.

Mr Khan, a PTI lawmaker from Mianwali, had resigned as minister for forest, wildlife and fisheries after his arrest in June this year.

The NAB alleged that Mr Khan violated laws and awarded a multi-billion contract to a firm of his choice namely Earth Resource Private Limited (ERPL) 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. The company was not even registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan and Khan signed the agreement ignoring the laws.

However, the counsel for the petitioner argued that the contract in question was given with the permission of the then chief minister and the provincial cabinet. He said laws were strictly observed while granting the contract.

The counsel said the petitioner had even no power to award any contract on its own so there could be no question of misuse of authority. He said the allegations by the NAB were false, fabricated and politically motivated.

He asked the bench to allow the petition and release the petitioner on bail.

The bench comprising Justice Ali Baqar Najafi and Justice Sardar Ahmad Naeem admitted the petition and granted post-arrest bail to Sibtain Khan.

The three more suspects are involved in the same case including former secretary for mines and minerals department Imtiaz Ahmad Cheema, former chief inspector mines Abdul Sattar and former general manager operations of mines of the company Muhammad Aslam.

Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2019