QUETTA – The National Accountability Bureau Balochistan has filed a reference against 26 including former government officers and international companies, who had caused billion of rupee loss to the national exchequer in the Reko Diq case.
A spokesman for the Balochistan NAB said, the Chaghi Hills Exploration Joint Venture Agreement was signed in 1993 between the Balochistan Development Authority and an Australian company called Broken Hills Proprietary, in which the latter was illegally benefited by the corrupt officials, especially of the Balochistan Development Authority.
Tethyan Copper Company (TCC) had been granted a license for gold and copper mining at Reko Diq area of Balochistan but former chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry had cancelled the agreement with the company.
Later the company filed a lawsuit against Pakistan at ICSID, claiming S11.43bn in damages in 2012. In July, last year, the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) had imposed a penalty of 5.8bn on Pakistan in the Reko Diq case.
The verdict was then challenged by Pakistan in the International Court of Justice (ICJ). In the month of September, the ICJ awarded a stay in Reko Diq case until the final hearing set for May 2021.
He said the Balochistan Mining Concession Rules were illegally amended to strengthen the terms of this agreement and repeatedly entering into illegal sub-agreements and introducing a new company called Tethyan Copper Company (TCC).
Revenue department officials committed irregularities in the land allotment and in other matters. Reko Diq project was failed to generate billions of rupees. Department records and witnesses statements revealed eye-opening facts that the TCC operatives were found to be involved in corruption, he added.
