LAHORE:An accountability court on Thursday returned the Chiniot mines and minerals reference to National Accountability Bureau (NAB) over lack of jurisdiction.
The court directed the bureau to take up the matter with the relevant forum for further action.
The court ruled that the matter did not fall under its jurisdiction as per amended National Accountability Ordinance (NAO).
Accountability Court Judge Zubair Shahzad Kiyani passed the orders while deciding applications, filed by the accused, including Punjab Assembly Speaker Sibtain Khan, for acquittal on the basis of the amendments to the NAO.
The accused, through their applications, had submitted that the matter did not fall under jurisdiction of the accountability court as per amended NAO. They submitted that the bureau had accused them of misuse of powers, and not corruption.
Besides Sibtain Khan, Salman Ghani, Muhammad Aslam, Abdul Sattar Mian and Imtiaz Ahmad Cheema had been named as the accused in the reference, filed by the bureau.
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 that the company, which was given the contract, had a paid-up capital of Rs 2.5 million only and also lacked experience required for the project.