Mine your business: Former PPP minister, 9 others sent to prison

Accused taken into custody by NAB K-P before being sent on judicial remand.

PESHAWAR: After spending 17 days in the custody of National Accountability Bureau Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, former Pakistan Peoples Party provincial minister Nawabzada Mehmood Zeb, along with nine others, was sent to Central Prison Peshawar in an illegal mining scam. The accused were produced before accountability court judge Zarqaish Sani by a NAB investigation team on Monday.

The court was informed that Zeb along with nine others was arrested on July 9 over abuse of authority which allegedly caused a loss of approximately Rs360 million to the national exchequer. The court was also told that all necessary information was obtained from the accused.



All the 10 accused were then sent to Central Prison Peshawar for a 14-day judicial remand.

A mining problem

NAB has accused Zeb and the rest of misusing their authority by illegally allotting 500 acres of phosphate deposits to Rukhsana Javed. Javed is said to have illegally excavated phosphate minerals with the help of Ehtishamul Mulk, a cousin of Zeb. This move caused a loss of million.

Ehtesab

Ehtesab Court judge Hayat Ali Shah sent Mines and Mineral Director General Dr Liaqat Ali and Administrator Mir Zaman to Central Prison Peshawar for illegally awarding contracts of mines and making appointments on Monday.  Liaqat was arrested on June 18 for his alleged involvement in illegal mining conducted in Mama Khel area in Nizampur, Nowshera. The Ehtesab Commission has said this also caused loss of millions of rupees.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 28^th, 2015.