Nandipur case: Accountability court acquits Babar Awan, rejects Raja Pervaiz Ashraf's request
June 25, 2019
ISLAMABAD: An accountability court on Tuesday acquitted former law minister Babar Awan in the Nandipur power plant corruption reference and rejected the request of former prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf.
Accountability Court Judge Arshad Malik announced the decision. Later on, President Arif Alvi called Awan to congratulate him on his acquittal.
Awan, earlier, had given resignation as an adviser to the prime minister on parliamentary affairs after NAB filed a case on the said reference.
The case
The Nandipur Power Project was approved by the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) in December 2007 at a cost of 329 million dollars. After approval, the contract was signed in January 2008, between Northern Power Generation Company Limited (NPGCL) and Dong Fang Electric Corporation (DEC), China and two consortiums — COFACE for 68.967 million euros and SINOSURE for 150.151 million dollars.
In 2008, the Ministry of Water and Power approached the Ministry of Law to issue a legal opinion but accused in connivance with each other and with malafide intentions, the latter repeatedly refused to issue on flimsy grounds.
Furthermore, the Ministry of Water and Power also failed to take any concrete measures to resolve the issue and the matter remained pending.
The legal opinion was issued in November 2011; the delay caused a loss of 27 billion rupees.
