KARACHI: The defence counsels presented their final arguments in accountability court in a graft reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau pertaining to fraudulent sale of coal.
The counsels of the accused are expected to continue their concluding arguments in the next hearing of the NAB reference in an accountability court here.
The NAB had filed a corruption reference against former director of mines and mineral development Manzoor Hussain and others for allegedly granting permission to a coal-mining company to excavate and sell coal in the open market in violation of the agreement, causing a loss of around Rs2.5 billion to the national exchequer.
The accountability reference was filed in 2016. Earlier, charges were framed against the accused persons, who pleaded not guilty and opted to contest the charges.
According to NAB, the Sindh Coal Authority had leased out 8,626 acres in 2006 for mining at Lakhra in Jamshoro, to install a 200MW power plant within a five-year period, but it failed to establish the plant.
The accountability bureau maintained that the company did not make any investment to set up power plant but illegally sold tonnes of coal in the open market.
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