After all Rental Power Project (RPP) contracts were declared illegal by the Supreme Court, some of the companies in charge of the projects have brought in a new twist to the case.
Sources told The Express Tribune that after being pressurised by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to return billions of rupees to the government after the cancellation of the contracts, several of the companies involved in RPPs have raised the question – what about the money the government owes us?
The companies claim that the government has defaulted on billions on account of electricity and fuel charges, sources added.
Since the NAB investigators have only been concerned with the recovery of money paid to the RPPs by the government but not vice versa, the companies, a number of which are foreign, have threatened not only to wind up investment in Pakistan but also to approach the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
As a result, NAB has now decided to hire the services of a chartered accountant who can reconcile the balance sheets and other records in order to figure out the answer to the vital question: Does the liability lie on the side of the government, or the RPPs?
During the probe, a NAB investigation team member revealed that the RPPs representative also said that the government was bound to pay rent for even those units which had been closed, because the reason for their closure was non-payment by the government in the first place.
NAB officials familiar with the development of the Supreme Court case, while talking to The Express Tribune, said that the role of government functionaries involved in the RPPs fiasco would be determined during the course of the investigation.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 19th, 2012.
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@Mirza:
and why are you so euphoric? the companies are only threatening but cannot go to ICJ because they paid commission to certain ministers and politicians which is illegal and hence no recovery of that is possible in any court..instead the ICJ can penalize them more...so stop day dreaming... PPP is breathing its last... i dont think anybody in pakistan except you are willing to accetp 23year old bilawal as their leader....
@Mirza: You want Pakistan to disintegrate. I know you are a troll and ET is a foreign newspaper with its own agenda. You two are birds of a feather.
Great, let the International Court of Justice decide what went wrong and who is reneging on the business contracts? The business deals must be honored no matter what the local politics are. By throwing the Turkish or other foreign companies out can only create bigger financial problems for Pakistan. All the euphoria on this SC decision was premature.