Raja Pervaiz Ashraf Acquitted in Another RPP Reference
Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, along with Shaukat Tareen, former bureaucrats and directors of PEPCO, have been acquitted in the Piranghaib RPP reference.
Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, the former Prime Minister of Pakistan, is acquitted in another Rental Power Project (RPP) reference this week. This time, Ashraf, along with former finance minister Shaukat Tareen, former bureaucrats and directors of the Pakistan Electric Power Company (PEPCO), have been acquitted in the Piranghaib RPP reference.
National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had filed the Piranghaib RPP reference against Mr Ashraf, Mr Tareen, former federal secretaries Ismail Qureshi and Shahid Rafi, ex-managing director Tahir Basharat Cheema and directors of PEPCO Razi Abbas, Wazir Ali Bhaio, Saleem Arif and Iqbal Ali Shah.
However, when they cross-examined the prosecution witnesses, it turned out that there was no actual loss to the national exchequer in the Piranghaib RPP. One such example is of Mohammad Yousaf, who is the Chief Engineer and was the Director Technical for the RPP at the time.
When he was cross-examined by Amjad Iqbal Qureshi, the counsel for Mr Ashraf, Yousaf stated that “no advance payment was made to the sponsors of Piranghaib. Since no implementation of board’s decision and that of ECC [Economic Coordination Committee] was made, no loss was caused to the national exchequer.”
He also added, “as no advance payment was made in this case, government of Pakistan guarantee was also not given to the service providers.”
The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) government had introduced the RPPs to overcome power shortfall of 2,500MW. The apex court had declared the RPPs illegal as well as void ab initio because of alleged misconduct in the awarding of contracts.
To read about Raja Pervaiz Ashraf’s previous acquittal in a RPP reference, click here.
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