On June 25, former PM Raja Pervaiz Ashraf was acquitted from the graft charges in a Rental Power Plant (RPP) case that had been filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on the order of the Supreme Court (SC).
Judge Mohammad Bashir from Islamabad’s Accountability Court-I announced the verdict reserved at the last hearing. Along with former PM Ashraf, 9 other accused were also acquitted.
These include former finance minister Shaukat Tareen and Pakistan Electric Supply Company (PESCO) former chief Basharat Cheema.
The court stated that on short order, NAB was unable to prove any of the corruption charges against former PM Ashraf and the 9 others, and since there was no loss to the country, the court accepted acquittal pleas.
Background on Former PM Raja Pervaiz Ashraf’s Graft Charges in RPP Case
In 2009, the PPP government had awarded contracts to nine RPPs so they could provide electricity to Pakistan as a stopgap arrangement. These RPPs included both local and international firms, such as the Karkey Karadeniz Elektrik Uretin of Turkey.
At the moment of these contracts, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf was the Minister for the Water and Power portfolio. He became the Prime Minister of Pakistan later in June 2012 when Yousuf Raza Gilani was disqualified. However, it was before Ashraf became the PM, in March 2012, that the SC declared the contracts null and void on the basis of lack of transparency.
NAB had officially began pursuing the case on SC’s orders in January 2013 – however, it did not include former PM Raja Pervaiz Ashraf in the first filing in May 2013. Ashraf’s name was only added in 2019 after Rana Amjad, Sahiwal-Multan project manager, became an approver.
In 2019, Ashraf was accused of misusing authority while he was the Minister for Water and Power to get the approval from the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) and the federal cabinet for an increase in the down payment to the RPPs from 7% to 14%, amounting to an estimated Rs 22 billion.
It was then that he was officially indicted by the Accountability board. He is also facing another inquiry by NAB regarding the Nandipur Power Plant.
To read about Abbasi Shaheed Hospital in Karachi starting free COVID-19 testing, click here.
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