ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Rawalpindi chapter on Thursday arrested two persons in connection with the Reko Diq reference.
The accused namely Sher Khan and Muhammad Farooq were arrested from Islamabad, said the graft-buster body in a statement and added that both will be handed over to the NAB Balochistan on transit remand.
The arrest was made after Chairman NAB Justice (Retd) Javed Iqbal issued arrest warrants for the suspects. The NAB on Wednesday last filed the reference over financial irregularities in the Reko Diq project.
According to NAB’s spokesperson, the bureau unearthed important evidence against the people involved in the scam. The reference had been registered against 26 accused including former officials of the Balochistan government.
Tethyan Copper Company (TCC) had been granted license for gold and copper mining at Reko Diq, area of Balochistan but the former chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry had cancelled the agreement with the company.
The company had 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. Later, the verdict was challenged by Pakistan in the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
In the month of September, the ICJ awarded a stay in the Reko Diq case until the final hearing set for May 2021. – TLT
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