ISLAMABAD: In what seems like a move tailored to embarrass the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has picked up the head of a government-run power board — who is supposed to be a key part of the ground-breaking ceremony for a 1,320 megawatt power project scheduled to be held in Karachi on Tuesday.

According to NAB spokesperson Ramzan Sajid, the bureau arrested on Sunday three people in connection with a Rs22 billion rental power project (RPP) scam. The three men picked up are Private Power and Infrastructure Board (PPIB) Managing Director N.A. Zuberi and two former chief executive officers of Lakhra Power Generation Company Limited (LPGCL-Genco) Anwar Brohi and Muhammad Jamil. The former was taken into custody from Islamabad while the other two were picked up from Karachi.

The NAB spokesperson said the bureau was investigating the allegedly illegal award of contract to M/s Karkey Karadenize Electric Uretium, a Turkish company, for the commissioning of a rental power project in Karachi. An agreement to this effect was signed between Karkey and LPGCL, he added.

“The three men in custody are accused of causing massive losses to the national exchequer by extending undue favours to the Turkish firm,” he said.

He said the estimated losses recoverable from Karkey amounted to nearly $128.14 million, in addition to a mark-up of about Rs120m. Nearly Rs672.70m is to be recovered from the public office holders responsible, he said, adding: “The accused will be produced before an accountability court so we can obtain their physical remand.”

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is expected to be the chief guest at the ground-breaking ceremony of the coal-fired Port Qasim Power Plant on May 6, a project supervised by the PPIB. The ceremony is likely to be attended by foreign delegates and investors, invited by the PPIB to invest in the power sector.

In this context, the PPIB chief’s arrest could undermine the confidence of foreign investors and may embarrass the prime minister when he meets these foreign delegates at the ceremony.

According to the Prime Minister Office, on Aug 29 last year, M/s QINVEST LLC, Doha, Qatar, M/s Power Construction Corporation of China (Power China), M/s SEPCOIII Electric Power Construction Corp, the government of Punjab and PPIB signed an MoU for the development of 10x660MW (2x660MW in phase-I and 8x660MW in phase-II) coal-fired power project for the coastal areas of Gadani in Balochistan.

The project to be commissioned on Tuesday is a joint venture of Sinohydro Resources Limited, China, (a wholly owned subsidiary of M/s Power Construction Corporation of China) and M/s Al-Mirqab Capital, Qatar. They will undertake the development of two 660MW coal-based power projects at Port Qasim. A ‘Notice to Proceed’ was issued by the PPIB to sponsors on March 6 this year.

Despite repeated attempts, a PPIB spokesperson was not available for comment.

Separately, a source in the water and power ministry told Dawn that most of the major players in the Rs22bn RPP scam were roaming free, while those who were not behind the corruption were being grilled. Some of the main accused who are still not in NAB custody include former prime ministers Yousuf Raza Gilani and Raja Pervez Ashraf, former federal minister Shaukat Tareen, former water and power secretary Shahid Rafi and Fayyaz Elahi, former managing director of PPIB.