Ex-PM fails to appear before court in appointments case

Raja Pervaiz Asharf’s counsel says client could not come due to suspension of air routes

LAHORE: Former prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf failed to appear before an accountability court in a case pertaining to illegal appointments in Gujranwala Electric Power Company (Gepco) due to suspension of aerial routes.

Hearing of the case took place in the Accountability Court of judge Najamul Hassan.

Ashraf’s counsel maintained that his client could not appear before the court as the flight operations had come to a halt owing to tensions between Pakistan and India. He said his client was in Islamabad to attend the joint session of parliament.



The counsel requested the judge to grant Ashraf one day exemption from appearance which the court approved and adjourned the hearing till March 9.

During the proceedings, the counsel of the accused partially cross-examined the investigation officer of the case.

According to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) reference, Ashraf, in his tenure as minister for water and power had written a letter to the managing director (MD) of the Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco), Tahir Basharat Cheema, to waive the condition of written test and recruit as many as 437 people without taking merit into consideration.

The other eight people indicted in the case include Gepco former CEO Muhammad Ibrahim Majoka, former HR head Hashmat Ali Kazmi, Pepco former MD Tahir Basharat Cheema, former secretary Shahid Rafi and former directors – Malik Razi Abbas, Saleem Arif and Wazir Ali.

The NAB reference said Gepco former CEO Ibrahim Majoka illegally and unlawfully implemented the instructions received from Pepco former MD Tahir Bashrat Cheema, and allowed selection of candidates while clearly violating the laid-down rules and regulations.

Hashmat Ali Kazmi, in contradiction of the advertisement and laid-down criteria, paved the way for recruitment of candidates from outside the Gujranwala division.  The court has once again summoned a reply from NAB on petition to acquit Ashraf.