LAHORE:An accountability court on Thursday summoned eight accused, including Punjab Assembly Speaker Sibtain Khan, for October 7 in the Chiniot mines and minerals reference.
Accountability Court Judge Zubair Shahzad Kiyani issued the orders on the reference, submitted by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
NAB had approached the court for reopening of the reference, closed under the defunct amendments to the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO), set aside by the Supreme Court.
An accountability court on October 6, 2022, had returned the Chiniot mines and minerals reference to NAB with an observation that it lacked jurisdiction to proceed further in the case after the amendments introduced to the NAO.
Besides Sibtain Khan, Salman Ghani, Muhammad Aslam, Abdul Sattar Mian, Imtiaz Ahmad Cheema and others had been named as the accused in the reference. The bureau had alleged that Sibtain Khan exceeded his powers and awarded a multi-billion contract to a firm of his choice 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 Rs 2.5 million only and also lacked the experience required for the project.