PESHAWAR: A Peshawar High Court bench on Tuesday denied bail to former provincial minister Mehmood Zeb and four mines department officials arrested by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) over the alleged involvement in the illegal award of lucrative mining contract to a woman schoolteacher causing a loss of around Rs360 million to the exchequer.

However, Chief Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel and Justice Mohammad Younas Taheem granted bail to the then secretary of mines and mineral development department, Shah Wali Khan, in the case.

Those whose petitions were dismissed by the bench include former mines and mineral development minister and PPP leader Nawabzada Mehmood Zeb; alleged front man of the minister Shehzada Ehteshamul Mulk; deputy director of the department Khan Badshah; then director licensing of minerals department Shakirullah, and senior geologist of the mineral directorate Nauroz Khan.

The high court had earlier on Sept 22 granted bail to four other suspects in the case, including then additional secretary of mines department Asmatullah Gandapur, senior inspector of mines Ziarat Khan, section officer Farhad Ali and assistant director (litigation) Pervez Khan.

PHC however accepts bail plea of former mines secretary

NAB special prosecutor Umar Farooq insisted the former minister in connivance with other suspects had misused his authority in awarding prospecting licence to a woman schoolteacher, Rukhsana Jawed, of 500 acres of proven deposits of phosphate instead of auctioning that mining site.

He said the Sarhad Development Authority held an area of 1200 acres of phosphate under the mining lease from 1985 to 2005.

The NAB prosecutor said the area was surrendered back in 2005 and was required to be put through an open auction in line with the Mining Concession Rules 2005.

He said in an illegal manner, the minister presided over a meeting on Jan 1, 2009, where decision to award the mining licence to the woman teacher was made.

Farooq said on Jan 21, 2009, the minister signed the minutes of the meeting two days after the teacher entered into a partnership with his front man on Jan 19, 2009.

He said the prospective licence of the area was given to the woman on payment of just Rs15,000 licence fee despite the fact that the said site had proven phosphate deposits.

The prosecutor said an adjacent site, which too had proven deposits of phosphate, was leased out for mining for Rs118 million showing how much loss was inflicted to the exchequer in the award of mining contract to the woman teacher.

The lawyers for petitioners claimed the NAB had shown factitious loss to the exchequer as the site had no proven deposits of phosphate.

They insisted lessee Rukhsana Jawed was awarded prospecting licence of the mining site as she had engaged in lengthy legal wrangling with the department and finally, a settlement committee decided to award the licence to her.

Mudassir Ameer, lawyer for former secretary Shah Wali, said neither had his client chaired the meeting on the award of mining licence nor was he a beneficiary of the deal.

He said his client was a member of the settlement committee just like the other suspect, Asmatullah, who had already secured bail from the court in the case.

Published in Dawn, November 11th, 2015