ISLAMABAD: The Nat­ional Accountability Bur­eau (NAB) on Friday arrested former petroleum secretary Shahid Rafi in a corruption case pertaining to the Rental Power Plants (RPPs) initiated for installation in 2008 to meet growing electricity demand in the country.

According to the NAB, the ex-official was arrested from his residence in the federal capital. He is accused of committing corruption in the award of a contract to a power producing company.

A reference was already filed against Mr Rafi for misuse of authority and committing corruption in initiating the Guddu RPP without approval of the Economic Coordination Committee of the cabinet.

He allegedly awarded the $72 million contract to a company in violation of public procurement rules and the National Electric Power Regulatory Aut­hority Act despite the fact that the company had not even submitted a feasibility of the project.

NAB is investigating the Rs22 billion RPP scam in which nine companies have been accused of receiving more than Rs22bn mobilisation adv­ance from the government to commission the projects, with most having failed to set up the plants.

Twelve references relating to the RPPs have been filed in the accountability court. Former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf is the principal accused in the scam.

Published in Dawn, April 20th, 2019