Defunct deals: Power companies agree to return money
A day after the national anti-graft watchdog proposed travel and financial restrictions on former top government officials for their alleged involvement in controversial rental power project (RPP) deals, some of the companies agreed to return the amount they owe to the government.
This came on a day when the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) sent names of 14 owners and chief executive officers (CEOs) of 12 RPPs to the interior ministry requesting for them to be put on the Exit Control List (ECL).
NAB has given RPPs two weeks to return the money they had received from the government in advance payment, with interest, sources told The Express Tribune. Their assets and bank accounts have already been frozen.
Owners of two RPPs told NAB investigators that they were ready to return the money they owe. Some other companies are also likely to follow suit, officials told The Express Tribune.
NAB has summoned owners and CEOs of Karkay Karodeniz, Pakistan Power Resources and Gulf Rental on Wednesday, Thursday and Monday, respectively. Techno-E Power, Walters Power Naudero-I, Karkey Rental Power and Gulf Power Project have to return the money within three days.
The 12 RPPs in question are: Techno-E Power (Faisalabad), Young Generation (Faisalabad), Techno-E Power (Sialkot), Pakistan Power Resources (Kashmore), Karkay Karodeniz (Turkish ship anchored off Karachi),Gulf Rental (Gujranwala), Reshma Power (Lahore), Walters Power International Naudero-I (Larkana), Walters Power International Naudero-II (Larkana), Alstome Power Rental (Sheikhupura), General Electric Power (Sheikhupura) and Pakistan Power Resources (Multan).
On Monday, NAB requested the interior ministry to freeze bank accounts of 19 officials – including three former federal ministers, five secretaries, and an ex-Wapda chairman – and put their names on ECL. NAB officials say that their involvement in the defunct deals would be determined during the course of investigation.
NAB has obtained records of the rental power case from the Supreme Court and sought official record of advance payments, liabilities and irregularities from the authorities concerned, an investigator told The Express Tribune.
On Friday, the apex court had declared all RPP contracts ‘illegal’ and directed NAB to proceed against all the people involved in corruption.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 4th, 2012.
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Good job SC and NAB, keep on retrieving the looted money from these thieves!