ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has fixed for hearing an appeal filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against the acquittal of Adviser to the PM on Parliamentary Affairs Dr Babar Awan in the Nandipur reference.

An IHC division bench comprising Chief Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Aamer Farooq will take up the appeal on Monday (tomorrow).

NAB filed the appeal in July last year. However, no progress could be made as the bureau seems uninterested in pursuing the case. The appeal was fixed for hearing in May, but no NAB prosecutor appeared before the court to present its arguments.

On June 18, when the appeal was again fixed for hearing, NAB sought time from the court to prepare its arguments and requested for an adjournment.

Former accountability judge Mohammad Arshad Malik, days before his video scandal came to limelight, had acquitted Mr Awan in the Nandipur reference. Other accused, including former prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and some officials, are still being tried in this case.

Pervez Ashraf, others still face charges in Nandipur case

Justice Minallah inquired from NAB to satisfy the court that when allegations against all the accused persons were identical, then how Mr Awan had been acquitted.

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 consortiums — Coface for 68.96 million euros and Sinosure for $150.15m — 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 they 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.

Ban on Nawaz speech

Meanwhile, Justice Minallah will hear a petition seeking ban on the speech of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif.

The petitioner through his counsel Adnan Iqbal filed the petition before the IHC.

The petition stated that Mr Sharif managed to go abroad on the pretext of his ailment but he not only started actively participating in the politics but also initiated a smear campaign against the state’s institutions.

The petitioner requested the court to issue the order banning his speeches at political gatherings through video link.

Published in Dawn, October 4th, 2020