An accountability court (AC) in Lahore on Friday rejected the acquittal pleas filed by Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader and Punjab Minister Sibtain Khan and seven others in Chiniot Mines and Minerals’ reference, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.  

AC Judge Sajid Ali Awan rejected the applications filed by all eight accused under the recently amended NAB ordinance.

The court also summoned witnesses in the case on February 18. 

Praying to the court to acquit Sibtain, his lawyer said the contract for the mining of minerals in Chiniot was awarded during the interim government and not when his client was the Punjab minister.

National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Prosecutor Asadullah Malik, on the other hand, insisted that it was during Sibtain’s stint as a provincial minister that the process of awarding the contract to Arshad Waheed’s firm had kicked off. “Not only that, he also received monetary benefits from that,” he said, and requested the court to reject his acquittal plea.    

Sibtain is facing the allegation of awarding the minerals’ mining contract to his ‘favourite’.  

In its reference, the NAB has claimed that the minister’s act had caused the loss of billions of rupees to the national exchequer. Reporter: Jamaluddin Jamali