PHC reserves verdict on bail petition of ex-minister, others

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Wednesday reserved verdict on bail petitions of PPP’s former provincial minister Nawabzada Mehmood Zeb and four other persons arrested on charges of illegal allotment of government reserves of phosphate for mining to a schoolteacher, which caused Rs360 million loss to the exchequer. A division bench comprising CJ Mazhar Alam Miankhel and Justice Muhammad Thahim Khan reserved decision on bail petitions after detailed hearing from all the parties.
The NAB alleged that Nawabzada Mehmood Zeb, a leader of the PPP and provincial minister for technical education, industries and minerals in the previous coalition government of the ANP and PPP, illegally allotted 500 acres of a mine with proven deposits of phosphate to a schoolteacher, Rukhsana Javed, with the connivance of the nine other suspects.