ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Monday sought time from the Islamabad High Court (IHC) to argue the appeal it filed against the acquittal of Adviser to the Prime Minister on Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan in the Nandipur reference.

An IHC division bench comprising Chief Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Aamer Farooq resumed the hearing of NAB’s appeal.

Earlier last month when the court took up the appeal, none of the prosecutors of NAB was present in the courtroom.

On Monday, the NAB prosecutor was not ready to argue the case. He requested the court to adjourn the case and grant him time to prepare arguments.

Other accused in Nandipur case are still being tried

The same bench also took up appeals filed by former secretary of law and justice Masood Chishti and other former officials of the law ministry, seeking acquittal in the same case.

Former accountability judge Mohammad Arshad Malik had acquitted Mr Awan in the Nandipur reference. The other accused, including former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, Mr Chishti and other former officials, are still being tried in this case.

Justice Minallah asked NAB prosecutor to satisfy the court that since the allegations against all the accused persons were identical, how Mr Awan had been acquitted.

The court adjourned the matter till June 25.

The Nandipur power project was approved by the Economic Coordination Committee of the cabinet on Dec 27, 2007, at a cost of $329 million. After the approval, a contract was signed on Jan 28, 2008, between the Northern Power Generation Company Limited and the Dong Fang Electric Corporation, China, and two consortium — Coface for 68.967m euros and Sinosure for $150.151m — were set up for financing the project.

The Water and Power Ministry sought a legal opinion on the project from the law ministry in accordance with the schedule of agreement in July 2009, but the accused repeatedly refused to offer one.

The Water and Power Ministry also failed to take any concrete step in time to resolve the issue and the matter remained pending.

Published in Dawn, June 9th, 2020