Ex-Pepco MD remanded in NAB custody

Rasul Khan Mahsud faces charges of corruption in Karkey RPP case

ISLAMABAD: An accountability court on Friday remanded former Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco) managing director Rasul Khan Mahsud in the custody of the National Accountability Bureau for 14 days in the Karkey rental power plant case.

NAB produced Mahsud, who has remained the Pepco managing director from 2010 to 2012, before Judge Muhammad Bashir. The judge asked the suspect if he had hired the services of a lawyer. When Mahsud replied in the negative, the NAB prosecutor informed the court that the suspect was arrested earlier in the day.

The judge asked the prosecutor about whether or not NAB had carried out its investigation in the case.

He replied that NAB had earlier filed a reference in connection with the case but it did not mention Mahsud’s name.

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The investigation officer told the court that former Lakhra Power Generation Company Limited CEO Anwar Brohi, who had entered a plea bargaining agreement with NAB, had pointed out Mahsud’s involvement in the case.

The prosecutor told the court that Mahsud faces charges of receiving kickbacks and misusing his authority while he was the Pepco managing director and NAB wanted his remand for questioning.
Accepting the prosecutor’s request, the court remanded Mahsud in NAB custody for 14 days.

The Turkish ship-based energy firm, Karkey Karadeniz Elektrik Uretim, was one of the 12 rental power companies awarded contracts for electricity production by the Pakistan Peoples Party-led government in 2009.

Karkey installed a 232-megawatt ship-based rental power plant and signed a rental services agreement in April 2009 under the Rental Power Policy 2008 to produce electricity in collaboration with Lakhra Power Generation Company.

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Subsequently, the Supreme Court declared all RPPs contract void ab initio as there was a prima facie case that the contracts had been obtained by several private parties through corruption. The apex court also instructed NAB to take action against the government functionaries including the power and water ministers under whom the RPPs were approved or set up, and the minister and finance secretary holding charge when down payment for the plants was increased from 7% to 14%.

Liaquat Jatoi and Raja Pervaiz Ashraf were the water and power ministers in 2006 and 2008, respectively, while Shaukat Tareen was the finance minister in 2008, when the down payment was increased.

Of the 19 RPP deals signed initially, only nine were allowed to function after a damning Asian Development Bank evaluation report. Subsequently, six of those nine RPPs were discontinued.

Mahsud, who has remained the CEO of the National Transmission and Despatch Company as well, is also accused of causing a loss worth Rs13.270 billion to the national exchequer.

According to NAB, Mahsud had bought and sold transformers at varying rates and tried to hamper the investigation.
In 2012, the then prime minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani had sacked the Mahsud for his failure to deal with the power crisis which fuelled unrest in various parts of the country.