An official told media on Tuesday that the ACE Punjab has registered a case against former Director General of the Mines and Minerals Department Zafar Javed, Deputy Director Rashid Lateef, Manager Rafiullah Khan, Manager Rizwan Saqib Bajwa, Geologist Usman Ali and contractor Mukhtar Ahmad for unlawfully digging out gold from the Indus River, misuse of powers and damaging the national exchequer.
He said the ACE Director General had received complaints that some officers of Mines and Mineral Department by violating rules and regulations have illegally created a new zone for gravel and sand on Indus River. On this, he added, the ACE DG directed the Rawalpindi Regional Director to investigate the matter.
"During the inquiry, it emerged that the officers of Mines and Mineral Department gave permission to create a new zone for the gravel and sand on a place where the gold particles were found. By joining hands with the abovementioned and some other officials, the contractor company had obtained the contract of the newly-created zone apparently for the extraction of sand and gravel in violation of rules and regulations," the official said.
Subsequently, he said, the contractor company started extraction of placer gold at the site and cause loss of billions of rupees to the exchequer. He added that these officers had awarded contract to Haihong Super Pak Pvt Ltd against Rs100 million whereas the reserve price of the project was over Rs300 million. An ACE team under the supervision of Deputy Director Technical has been constituted to investigate the matter further, he concluded.