ISLAMABAD: An accountability court on Wednesday acquitted former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf and eight other accused nominated in a rental power plant reference filed nine years ago.

Mr Ashraf and the other accused sought acquittal under the second and third amendments to the National Account­abi­lity Ordinance in the 50-megwatt Naudero-II RPP reference.

The defence counsel Amjad Iqbal Qureshi argued that there were no allegations of monetary gain against their clients in the reference and only the allegation related to procedural lapses were levelled against their clients.

He argued that according to the new ordinance, NAB could not proceed against any suspect for procedural lapses “unless it is shown that a holder of public office or any other person has been conferred or has received any monetary or other material benefit from that particular public or governmental work”.

The counsel argued that the federal cabinet’s decision had completely been protected under the new ordinances.

The same court in 2019 rejected the acquittal applications of the accused under first amended NAB Ordinance of 2019. The NAB filed the reference against the accused in 2013.

The accountability watchdog alleged that the accused incurred a loss of Rs75 million to the national exchequer.

Published in Dawn, February 24th, 2022