LAHORE: Former Punjab minister for forests Sibtain Khan on Thursday sought acquittal in the Chiniot mining case.
Khan and the other accused filed a petition in the accountability court of Judge Muhammad Sajid Ali, saying reference against them does not fall within the agency’s ambit after the latest amendment in laws governing the body.
They pleaded with the court to set them free from the reference.
The court after summoning a reply from the NAB on the plea, adjourned the hearing until December 14.
It is pertinent to mention here that Khan had been released after furnishing bail bonds in the sum of Rs5 million with two sureties over the orders of the Lahore High Court (LHC) on September 28.
He was released after the issuance of robkar [mandamus], an accountability court in Lahore following the acceptance of his post-arrest bail plea in LHC under Article 199.
Khan had been arrested by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on June 14 over the charges of awarding contracts illegally for extracting minerals in Chiniot.
The release orders of Khan were given after the issuance of a 20-page written verdict of the LHC earlier in the day given by Justice Ali Baqar Najafi and Justice Sardar Ahmad Naeem in connection with the bail petition submitted by the ruling legislator.
