LAHORE: A detailed verdict on the acquittal applications of provincial minister Sibtain Khan of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and six others in a corruption reference says the accused persons face direct allegations of receiving illegal gratifications and monetary gains.

Accountability Court-V Presiding Judge Muhammad Sajid Ali had on Feb 4 dismissed the acquittal applications of Mr Khan and other accused, including former secretary for mines & minerals department Imtiaz Ahmad Cheema, former chief inspector mines Abdul Sattar, former general manager operations of mines of the company Muhammad Aslam, Rao Manzar Hayat, Salman Ghani and Advocate Muhammad Shahid.

In his detailed judgement, the judge observes that the recent amendments to the National Accountability Ordinance 1999 do not apply in the instant case as there are not only direct allegations of financial corruption against the public office holders, but the prosecution also claims to have been equipped with the evidence.

“As per contents of the reference, this is not a simple case of procedural lapses etc but the said lapses are alleged to have been motivated by illegal monetary benefit,” the judge adds.

The judge says without giving an opportunity to the prosecution to lead its evidence for proving the allegations, it will neither be legal nor proper to jump to the conclusion that no offence is made out or that there is no probability of conviction of the accused persons in any offence.

The judge observes that the acquittal on the ground of individual role allegedly attributed to each of the accused persons can also not be considered at this stage without recording of evidence.

The NAB alleged that 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 that 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. It said the company was not even registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) and Khan signed the agreement ignoring the laws.

Sibtain Khan, who was elected to assembly from Mianwali, had resigned as minister for forest, wildlife and fisheries after his arrest on June 15, 2019. He was released on bail by the Lahore High Court in September 2019 and later took oath as minister for forest.

Published in Dawn, February 16th, 2022