Former PM exonerated from graft charges in RPP case

Islamabad’s accountability court accepts Raja Pervaiz Ashraf’s acquittal plea

ISLAMABAD: An accountability court on Thursday acquitted former prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf in a rental power plant (RPP) case that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had filed on the order of the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

Islamabad’s Accountability Court-I Judge Mohammad Bashir announced the verdict which was reserved at the last hearing. The judge also acquitted 9 other accused including former finance minister Shaukat Tareen and Pakistan Electric Supply Company (Pesco) former chief Basharat Cheema.

In its short order, the court noted that NAB could not prove any corruption charges against Ashraf and the other accused and as the country did not suffer any loss, the acquittal pleas were accepted.

In 2009, the last PPP government had awarded contracts to nine RPPs to provide electricity to the country as a stopgap arrangement. These RPPs comprised both local and international firms, including the Karkey Karadeniz Elektrik Uretin of Turkey.

Raja Pervaiz Ashraf was the federal minister for water and power at the time of the signing of the agreement. Ashraf was later elected as the prime minister in June 2012 after disqualification of his predecessor Yousaf Raza Gillani.

In March 2012, however, the Supreme Court described the RPP contracts as non-transparent and declared them null and void after Faisal Saleh Hayat, who then belonged to the PML-Q and Khawaja Asif of the PML-N moved the court.

In January 2013, the court ordered NAB – the country’s top anti-graft watchdog – to proceed with corruption references against those who were at the helm of affairs when the contracts were signed.

The first NAB reference filed in May 2013 did not include Ashraf’s name. NAB filed a reference against the former PM in 2019 after Sahiwal-Multan project manager Rana Amjad became an approver.

Ashraf was accused of misusing authority during his tenure as the minister for water and power to obtain approval from the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) and the federal cabinet for an increase in the down payment to the RPPs from 7% to 14%, amounting to about Rs22 billion.

The accountability court on July 1, 2019 indicted Ashraf and others. He had denied the charges. Raja Pervaiz Ashraf is also facing a NAB reference against alleged irregularities in Nandipur Power Plant.