WAPDA chairperson resigns

ISLAMABAD: Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA) Chairperson Syed Raghib Abbas resigned on Thursday citing personal reasons, Express News reported.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif accepted the resignation.

Sources say that the PM was unhappy with the WAPDA chairperson’s performance and that the chairperson had differences with Minister of State for Water and Power Abid Sher Ali.

It was reported in February that the Prime Minister had asked his Principal Secretary Javed Aslam to form a technical committee to initiate a probe against Wapda Chairperson Syed Raghib Abbas, and recommend a NAB reference if he is found guilty.

Sources said Abbas did not satisfy the committee regarding the utilisation of funds under various Wapda schemes in the PSDP, as preliminary probes revealed he had diverted Rs8 billion under the Wapda head in PSDP to former PM Raja Pervez Ashraf’s Peoples Works Program II.