FAZAL SHER

ISLAMABAD: The Accountability Court on Thursday acquitted former prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and nine other accused in Sahiwal Rental Power (RPP) case.

The Accountability Court judge Muhammad Bashir while announcing its reserved verdict acquitted Ashraf and nine others including former finance minister, Shaukat Tareen, former secretary Water and Power Shahid Rafi, former managing directors of the Pakistan Electric Power Company (PEPCO) Ismail Qureshi, former PECO Managing Director (MD) Tahir Bashir Cheema, former members PEPCO Saleem Arif, Chaudhry Abdul Qadeer, Iqbal Ali Shah, Wazir Ali, and Malik Riaz Abbas.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had filed the reference in December after Rana Amjad, the manager of the Sahiwal Multan Project, turned approver in the case.

Ashraf and others had filed acquittal application under the NAB Amendment Ordinance, 2019.

The court observed that no losses had been incurred to the national exchequer, and the prosecution failed to prove the charges of misuse of authority.

The NAB had accused Ashraf of misusing his authority during his tenure as the minister for water and power to obtain approval from the Economic Coordination Committee, and the federal cabinet for an increase in the downpayment to rental power companies from seven percent to 14 percent, amounting to about Rs22 billion.