ISLAMABAD (APP): The Accountability Court (AC) of Islamabad on Wednesday quashed the Naudero Power Plant corruption reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against former prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and others.
AC-I Judge Muhammad Bashir announced the reserved verdict on the acquittal pleas of the accused. NAB had named a total of 10 accused in the graft case, and two of them have already been acquitted while one has died.
The court had reserved its decision on the acquittal pleas of Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, ex-secretary water and power Shahid Rafi and Tahir Basharrat Cheema after listening to the arguments from all respondents.
It may be mentioned that Raja Pervaiz Ashraf was accused of misusing his authority as power minister for approval of increasing down payment to the rental power companies to about Rs 22 billion from 7 to 14 per cent.
NAB had filed 12 rental power references including the Turkish ship-mounted power plant (Karkey), Piranghaib power plant, Multan, Sahiwal Power Plant, Guddu Power Plant in Sindh, Naudero-I Power Plant, Naudero-II Power Plant, Resham Power Generation in Raiwind, Young Gen Power Ltd, Bhiki, Gulf Rental Power Power (Pvt) Ltd, 150MW Sharaqpur PRP, and Gujranwala Electric Power Company (Gepco).
The accountability court had already acquitted Pervaiz Ashraf in the Multan, Sahiwal and Piranghaib power plants and Gepco cases.
