PESHAWAR: An Ehtesab court on Tuesday remanded the owner of a mining firm in the custody of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ehtesab Commission for 14 days in an illegal excavation and phosphate transportation case.

Judge Subhan Sher Khan asked the relevant KPEC officials to produce the suspect and owner of the Sahara Minerals Development Quest, Abbottabad, Naheed Awan, to produce inthecourtonSept1.

The commission alleged that the suspect had inflicted a loss of Rs1.2 billion to the exchequer by illegal excavation at an Abbottabad mine and unlawful transportation of phosphate from there.

A provincial minister Ziaullah Afridi and the director general of mines and mineral development department Dr Liaqat Ali have already been in the custody of the commission in the instant case. Ziaullah Afridi was arrested on Jul 9 on charges of carrying out illegal appointments, postings and transfers, and conniving with persons involved in illegal mining. He was subsequently booked in the instant case on Aug 12.

Mr Ziaullah had denied the charges and on different occasions he stated that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak had implicated him in these concocted cases.

Additional deputy prosecutor general Barrister Qazi Babar Irshad appeared before the court on Tuesday and said the firm owned by Naheed Awan was involved in illegal excavation and transportation of phosphate from two blocks at a mine site in Lagarband area of Abbottabad district.

He said Block C was reserved for auction, whereas Block D was on lease with Pak-Arab Fertilisers.

Qazi Babar alleged that Naheed Awan was illegally given transportation challans by the officials of mines and minerals development department for phosphate lease granted to him for another block, where no phosphate reserves were found, and that he illegally used those challans for transportation of phosphate from Block C and Block D.

BAIL GRANTED: The Peshawar High Court on Tuesday granted bail to the chief coordinating officer of Nowshera district council, Asad Gul, arrested by the KPEC on the charges of misusing office and committing corrupt practices in awarding different contracts. A single-member bench judge, Roohul Amin Khan, directed the petitioner, Asad Gul, to furnish two surety bonds of Rs3 million each.

Ghulam Mohiuddin Malik, lawyer for the petitioner, said his client was arrested on July 2 and that after completion of physical remand in the custody of the Ehtesab Commission, he was sent to prison on judicial remand.

He said there was no provision of judicial remand in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ehtesab Commission Act 2014 and also, there was no provision of the applicability of the Code of Criminal Procedure to the proceedings under the said law.

The lawyer said the high court had already granted bail to some suspects on the same ground and that his client was entitled to bail on the basis of principle of consistency.

He said the commission had arrested his client on the basis oftypicalvague charges.