- Punjab govt spokesman welcomes decision, says those responsible for illegal contract in 2007 should be held accountable
ISLAMABAD: National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Chairman Justice (r) Javed Iqbal on Monday ordered the bureau’s Lahore office to conduct an inquiry into the closure of an investigation into an illegal award of a contract to a private company for extracting minerals in Chiniot by the Pervaiz Elahi-led provincial government in 2007.
Sources privy to the developments said that the NAB chairman gave the orders after the Punjab government published an advertisement in local papers on Jan 28, drawing public attention to the matter.
According to a press release, Justice (r) Iqbal has ordered the NAB Lahore director general to determine why and under what circumstances the inquiry was closed. The NAB chief has also given directives for inquiry against those who closed the misappropriation case and corruption in giving out contracts, despite clear orders from the Supreme Court.
In 2007, mineral deposits were discovered in Chiniot district, after which a mining contract was reportedly given to a fake company by the name of Earth Resource Private Limited (EPRL) by the Pervaiz Elahi government. As per agreement, 80 per cent of the profit from this national asset was to go to EPRL.
It was also reported that minerals worth Rs 400 billion were present in the area.
When the matter was legally taken up, it was found out that an influential person with political ties was behind the corrupt activity.
Subsequently, the Lahore High Court and the Supreme Court ordered NAB to conduct an investigation. However, NAB mysteriously closed the inquiry in 2013.
‘SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT’:
Punjab government spokesman Malik Ahmed Khan told Pakistan Today that the public advertisement was aimed at “setting the record straight”.
“The court had ordered NAB to conduct an inquiry into the matter but the bureau absolved the company of the charges on the grounds that no financial loss had occurred in the award of the contract. We only published these facts (for public consumption),” he said.
Khan said that it is the statutory right of NAB to arrest or release anyone (in a case).
“No one can influence NAB’s judgement. However, the bureau should have thoroughly probed who awarded the contract and who had benefited from it because the courts had declared it illegal,” he said, adding that the company would have made off with precious metals had the court not struck down the agreement.
The spokesman said that the PML-N government had saved Rs 400 billion of public money by challenging the illegal contract in court and now it was up to the accountability watchdog to reopen the investigation and fix responsibility.
“Even if NAB believes no financial loss occurred due to this illegal contract, the matter still warrants an investigation because laws were violated in the process and those responsible should be held accountable,” he said, welcoming the NAB chairman’s decision to reopen the case on the Punjab government’s appeal.