ISLAMABAD, Nov 9: After considerable delay, the interior ministry has barred several accused in cases of the National Accountability Bureau from travelling abroad but it again has left out the name of Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf from the exit control list (ECL), sources in the two departments have told Dawn.

The interior ministry last month put on the ECL names of 34 of the 36 people referred by the NAB. The two men whose names have not been put on the ECL despite the NAB’s request are Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf and former finance minister Shaukat Tarin.

Their names were recommended by NAB in Rental Power Projects case. Mr Tarin has pleaded his innocence and told Dawn that he had opposed the RPPs project and on his recommendation the Asian Development Bank had conducted its audit.

“The interior ministry has sent a list carrying names of NAB accused on the ECL to NAB,” a senior official of the ministry told Dawn.

On June 28, NAB had sent to the interior ministry a list of 36 people, including the prime minister and some former federal ministers and secretaries, for putting their names on the ECL. They included Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, former chairman of Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority Tauqeer Sadiq, former ministers Liaquat Ali Khan Jatoi, Tariq Hameed, Shaukat Tarin, former secretaries Shahid Rafi, Muhammad Ismail Qureshi and Ishfaq Mehmood, Salman Siddique, two former chairmen of National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) Khalid Saeed and Lt-Gen (retd) Saeed Uz Zafar, chief executive officer GENCO Yousaf Ali, former managing directors of Private Power Infrastructure Board (PPIB) Khalid Irfan Rahman, Fayyaz Elahi and Yousuf Memon, former managing directors of Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco) Tahir Basharat Cheema, Munawar Baseer Ahmad, chief executive officers of Pepco Muhammad Arif Saleem, Fazal Ahmad Khan and Chaudhry Muhammad Anwar.

Owners and executive directors of Rental Power Plants included Muhammad Anwar Khan, CEO of Techno-E-Power; Muhammad Rafiq Butt, CEO of Young Gen; Muhammad Jamil Arain, CEO of Karkay; Ghulam Mustafa Tunio, CEO of Gulf Rental; Tariq Nazir, CEO of Walter Power; Gulzar Muhammad, CEO of Alstome Power Rental; Abid Ali, CEO of Techno-E-Power; Habib Ullah Khan, CEO of Young Gen; Iqbal Z. Ahmad, Principal Officer of Pakistan Power; Orhan Remzi Karadeniz , chairman of Karkay; Haseeb Ahmad Khan, CEO of Gulf Rental; Shah Faisal, CEO of Reshma Power; Muhammad Nasarullah Baig, Principal Officer of Walters Power; and Naeem Shafique, Country Manager of General Electric Power.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik was asked through SMS about NAB accused and their placement on the ECL but he did not reply. Similarly, the interior ministry’s director for media relations refused to comment on the matter.

Sources in NAB confirmed that the bureau had received the interior ministry’s list of 34 people placed on the ECL.

The NAB, under the directives of Supreme Court, had also sent reminder to the interior ministry to put the name of Prime Minister Ashraf on the ECL, but nothing had been done on it.

Before assuming the charge of the prime minister, Mr Ashraf had recorded his statement with NAB in the RPPs case. The Supreme Court had in April rescinded the RPPs and ordered NAB chairman Admiral (retd) Fasih Bokhari to proceed with corruption references against those who were at the helm of affairs at the time the contracts were signed.