Court reserves verdict on Awan’s acquittal plea

ISLAMABAD: An accountability court on Friday reserved till April 30 its judgement on a petition of the ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Dr Babar Awan seeking his acquittal in a National Accountability Bureau (NAB) reference against alleged delay in execution of the Nandipur Power Project.

On Friday, NAB prosecutor said he did not want to give further arguments on Awan's acquittal plea after which the Accountability Court-II Judge Arshad Malik reserved his decision.

The court also sought arguments on May 6 on acquittal petitions of two other accused – Riaz Kiyani and Shumaila Mehmood. It also summoned other prosecution witnesses on the next hearing to get their testimonies.



NAB had nominated former prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf,  former law minister Babar Awan and others in Nandipur reference and claimed that the national kitty faced a loss of Rs27 billions due to delay in execution of the project. Former ministers for water and power Khawaja Asif and Naveed Qamar are also on the list of the prosecution witnesses.