QUETTA, MAR 04 (DNA) – National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Thursday filed a reference against seven people including a coal company owner and mineral department officials of the Balochistan province over causing losses upto millions of rupees to the national exchequer.

According to a NAB spokesman, the officials and employees of the mines and minerals development department in Balochistan province were found involved in corruption worth millions.

He said that the accountability court has issued notices to the accused including Deputy Director Mohammad Zaman, Deputy Director Aizaz Khan and Imtiaz Hussain.

“The company owner with the support of corrupt officials took out coal from a mine without applying for lease and sold it out in the market, causing a loss of millions of rupees to the exchequer,” he said adding that a key accused in the case was a Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR) official who made illegal agreements with the coal company.

Earlier in the day, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has summoned Punjab government’s spokesperson Shaukat Basra in assets beyond known sources of income on March 6.

The NAB has served notice to Shaukat Basra and directed him to appear before NAB Multan office for probe against him over accumulating assets beyond known sources of income. Basra has been directed to show up before NAB Multan office on March 6.

In the month of December 2018, Basra had called on Prime Minister Imran Khan and announced to join the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) by leaving PPP. = DNA