ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court asked the National Accountability Bureau’s chairman Admiral (retd) Fasih Bokhari on Wednesday to appear before it on Thursday to explain what progress had been made on the issue of Rental Power Projects (RPPs).

According to the court’s schedule, it will receive NAB’s first fortnightly compliance report on its March 30 decision which declared that the projects were not transparent.

The court had ordered the NAB chairman to proceed with corruption references against those who were at the helm of affairs when contracts were signed from 2006 to 2008 to plug the energy shortfall through the RPPs as a stop-gap arrangement.

Admiral (retd) Bokhari has to submit fortnightly progress reports to the court’s registrar for perusal by the judges in chambers.

In line with the court’s decision, NAB on April 2 and 3 tightened the noose around those involved in the RPP scam by putting their names on the exit control list. They included newly appointed federal Minister for Information Technology Raja Pervez Ashraf, three former ministers, four ex-secretaries and owners and chief executives of 12 RPPs.

NAB also froze properties of 12 RPPs and cautioned their owners and the district coordination officers and deputy commissioners against transfer of the seized assets.

The NAB chairman said at a recent press conference that the bureau could go for plea bargain with the accused to recover the amount siphoned off in the RPPs case. “Under Rule 25 of the NAB Ordinance, we can go for plea bargain in any case,” he said.

The Supreme Court had directed NAB to recover the entire amount given to RPPs as mobilisation advance along with interest.