Company paid only $100 for mining rights, SC told

A three-member Supreme Court bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Muhammad Iftikhar Chaudhry, heard the case about the Reko Diq mines project on Thursday.The counsel for the Tethyan Company, Khalid Anwar, referring to another case, told the court that the BHP Company had paid only $100 as licence fee for mining rights. The CJP said that he knew that a shirt could not be bought for $100 what to talk about a mining licence. The court asked the lawyer to complete his arguments as the court wanted to be done with the hearing by today.Anwar said that his client had invested billions of dollars on the project and it was its right to get mining licence as it was illegal to deprive a company of making investment. Anwar told the court that the Tethyan Company was given relief according to the law. The CJP said that whatever clause was included in the agreement, it was made on the behest of the company.