An accountability court on Tuesday decided to indict former prime minister Raja Pervez Ahsraf, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s Babar Awan and five others in the Nandipur Power Project reference.
Accountability court I Judge Muhammad Bashir heard the Nandipur Power Project reference and decided to indict the seven accused, including Ashraf and Awan.
Fixing October 24 as the date for indictment, the court directed the accused to make sure they appear for the hearing.
Earlier during the hearing, the counsel for Ashraf counsel submitted a plea for his permanent exemption. The court issued a notice to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on the former premier’s request.
The NAB had filed a corruption reference against former minister for law and justice Babar Awan regarding a delay in Nandipur Project.
The former federal minister for water and power, Ashraf, along with other officers of the ministry, also faces a corruption reference for the delay in the project. The corruption references filed after a commission constituted at the behest of the Supreme Court had held officers of the Ministry of Law and Justice responsible for the delay. The Nandipur Power Project was approved by the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) in December 2007 at a cost of $329 million. The delay had reportedly caused a loss of RS 27 billion.
Published in Daily Times, October 3rd 2018.
