ISLAMABAD - The Accountability Court (AC)-1 Islamabad on Friday indicted former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf and six others in the rental power case.
The court judge Muhammad Bashir, heard the case against 10 accused including Raja Pervez Ashraf.
All accused, including Raja Pervez Ashraf, refused to plead guilty whereas the court sought all relevant evidence from the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in the next hearing of the case which was adjourned until February 4.
Raja is accused of misusing his authority during his tenure as the minister for water and power to obtain approval from the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) and the cabinet for an increase in the down-payment to the rental power companies from 7 per cent to 14 per cent, amounting to about Rs22 billion.
He authorized on April 13, 2009, the submission of a summary to the ECC, which allegedly contained misleading facts, stating that the terms and conditions of the bidding envisaging 7 per cent advance could not be met and should be raised to 14 per cent.
Raja Ashraf, who denied the charges, was specifically charged in connection with alleged corruption in Neudero Power Project.
NAB has been investigating 12 RPPs cases in which nine firms had reportedly received more than Rs22 billion as mobilization advance from the government to commission the projects, but most of them were accused of failing to set up plants. The bureau has already recovered Rs13 billion in the case.
Talking to media persons, after the hearing, the former prime minister of PPP, said that he could not comment on the issue as it was sub-judice. He further said that his character assassination campaign being run on the media was regrettable.
Later, counsel for Raja Farooq H Naek told the media that it was proved that Ashraf was not involved in any corruption, adding that his client would soon be acquitted.
Earlier during the last hearing, Raja Pervez could not be indicted after his counsel apprised the court about a plea sub-judice at Lahore High Court (LHC). NAB formally nominated Raja Pervez Ashraf in the Rs 22 billion RPPs case in November last year.
NAB had filed a 263-page reference against Raja Pervez Ashraf in the case.