Reference filed against ex-Wapda chief over rental power scam
ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB), Rawalpindi, on Wednesday filed a reference in an accountability court against former chairman of the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) Tariq Hameed and others for alleged corruption in the 150MW Sharaqpur Rental Power Plant (RPP) project.
According to NAB, Mr Hameed, former member power (Wapda) M. Anwar Khalid, ex-member finance Imtiaz Anjum, ex-member M. Mushtaq Chaudary, ex-general manager Fazal Ahmad Khan and owners of a private company — General Electric Energy (GEE) — were involved in corrupt practices regarding illegal award of rental services contract (RSC) to GEE. The contract was awarded without open competitive bidding upon favourable terms and conditions and was in violation of the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules, National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) Act and directives of the Economic Coordination Committee of the cabinet, which caused huge losses to the national exchequer.
The Rawalpindi NAB has so far recovered Rs3.6 billion in the RPPs scandal and returned the amount to the exchequer and the offices concerned.
The bureau investigated all 12 RPPs and filed references in these cases, including Turkish ship-mounted power plant (Karkey), Piranghaib in Multan, Sahiwal in Sialkot, Guddu in Sindh, Naudero-II in Sindh, Summundri Road, Naudero-I in Sindh, Reshma Power Generation in Raiwind, Young Gen Power Ltd, Bhikki in Sheikhupura, Gulf Rental Power Pvt Ltd and 150MW Sharaqpur RPP, in the accountability court, Islamabad.
The main accused in all these references included former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, ex-federal minister Shaukat Tareen, ex-finance minister Ismail Qureshi, former chairman of Pakistan Electric Power Compnay Shahid Rafi and former Pepco secretary Tahir Basharat Cheema.
Rawalpindi NAB director general Irfan Naeem Mangi said the bureau believed in across-the-board accountability and focused on the legitimacy of the case instead of who the accused were.
Published in Dawn, May 10th, 2018