ISLAMABAD: An accountability court in Islamabad Saturday deferred the indictment of former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf in the Rs 22 billion Rental Power Projects (RPP) case against him after hearing an application submitted by his counsel and adjourned the matter to Jan 3, DawnNews reported.

During the hearing of the case in the federal capital’s accountability court, Pervez Ashraf, along with his counsel Farooq H Naek, appeared before the court.

Advocate Naek informed the court that he had filed an application in the Lahore High Court pertaining to the case and the hearing was underway.

He contended that a reference could only be filed in the accountability court after the decision of the Lahore High Court, adding that only then could the former premier be indicted.

Naek said there was no charge of corruption against his client in the reference nor was there any evidence to prove him guilty.

He said Rental Power Projects had been undertaken before Ashraf came into power as prime minister of the country.

After hearing the application, the court subsequently adjourned the matter to Jan 3.

Ashraf, a Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) politician who served as premier between June 22, 2012 and March 25, 2013, is accused of receiving kickbacks and commissions from nine rental power project firms for awarding contracts for setting up their projects in 2008 to overcome electricity crisis in the country.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has been investigating 12 RPP cases in which nine firms reportedly received more than Rs22 billion as mobilisation advance from the government to commission the projects, but most of them were accused of failing to set up plants.

The bureau had already recovered Rs13 billion in the case.