Sindh CM Murad Ali Shah acquitted in Nooriabad Power Project reference

An accountability court in Islamabad has acquitted Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and all other accused in the Nooriabad Power Project reference after accepting the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) chairman’s request to withdraw the case.

Judge Nasir Javed Rana presided over the hearing of the reference, which named Murad Ali Shah and others. The defence counsel, Barrister Qasim Nawaz Abbasi, appeared before the court. After reviewing the request to withdraw the reference, the court granted it, leading to the acquittal of all the accused.

The decision came after the Supreme Court last month overturned a previous ruling that nullified amendments to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) laws.

Following the ruling, key political figures in the country breathed a sigh of relief as they are the ones that stand to benefit the most from the amendments made by the PML-N government to the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) 2000. The fact that these changes have been endorsed by the Supreme Court’s larger bench, led by Chief Justice of Pakistan Qazi Faez Isa, sets the law even further in stone.

The ruling also overturned the majority decision by former Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial and retired Justice Ijazul Ahsan, which had nullified the amendments.

The reference accused Shah of abusing his authority and violating rules by releasing funds for the Nooriabad Power Plant, alleging that billions of rupees were embezzled in both the Nooriabad Power Company and the Sindh Transmission and Dispatch Company projects.

The Nooriabad Power Project was initially proposed by the Sindh government in 2012 but was delayed due to bureaucratic hurdles and regulatory issues. It was eventually launched in August 2014 under a public-private partnership, costing Rs13 billion. The Sindh government owned 49% of the shares, with a private firm holding the remaining 51%.

A 95-kilometre, 132kV double-circuit transmission line was constructed from Nooriabad to Karachi at a cost of Rs1.95 billion. Murad Ali Shah, then an adviser to the Sindh chief minister on finance and energy, was alleged by NAB to have caused a $16 million loss to the national exchequer through this process.

The court’s decision to accept NAB's request marks the closure of the case, bringing relief to Shah and other accused parties.