A five-member larger bench of the Supreme Court (SC), headed by Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial, Wednesday heard the presidential reference on Reko Diq deal, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

“The government should maintain transparency in matters of public policy as a trustee,” the additional attorney general said during the hearing of the reference.

“The company that carries out search for the minerals is the one that gets the license to carry out mining,” he told the court.

“The Supreme Court had annulled the previous contract of Reko Diq due to the lack of proper feasibility,” he told further.

“The contract to mine minerals will be canceled when the company that discovers them terminates the contract itself,” he added.

“The Barrick Gold company’s previous license has been cancelled. Now, it will be given a new license,” he stated.

“$9 billion fine will be settled after the signing of $900 million payment agreement with another company,” he informed the court.

“It has been stated in the court decisions that bidding for projects should be carried out for transparency. But it is nowhere written in the court decisions that there can be no transparency in projects without bidding,” he emphasised.

“There are only a dozen companies in the world, including Barrick Gold, for mineral exploration and mining. Despite the cancellation of Barrick Gold’s license, no company approached Pakistan due to the court decision,” he added.

“The previous Reko Diq agreement had numerous fundamental flaws which have been removed in the new agreement,” he stated.

The hearing on the presidential reference was then adjourned till tomorrow.

Reporter: Amanat Gishkori