The Accoun-tability Court hearing a corruption reference against former Minister for Water and Power, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and former Law Minister Zaheer-ud-Din Babar Awan with respect to delay in the Nandipur Power Project Wednesday again reserved its judgement on Awan's acquittal plea till February 25. Awan in October last filed an application before the Accountability Court Judge Muhammad Arshad Malik seeking acquittal in the Nandipur reference filed against him, Ashraf and others by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on September 4, 2018.
The court reserved its verdict first on February 10 on Awan's acquittal plea and now the court will announce it on February 25. At the start of the hearing, Accountability Court Judge Muhammad Arshad Malik said that he would not announce the verdict regarding the acquittal plea that day as he wants to further examine the record.
He said that he will ask about two things for his understanding. It is an established fact that Nandipur Power Project had been delayed, he said, adding now it has to be determined in whose tenure this delay had been caused whether this minister (Awan) or anyone else. The judge asked the NAB's prosecutor what will happen to the remaining suspects if Babar Awan is acquitted.
On this the NAB prosecutor responded that other suspects would also apply for the same treatment. All the suspects of the case are linked with Awan, the prosecutor further said, adding that under the law, the suspect could not file acquittal application at the initial stage of hearing. On this, Awan said that the acquittal application can be filed before the court at any stage. It is the prerogative of the court to announce verdict on acquittal application, he added.
The prosecutor told the court that the name of Awan is on the top in the list provided by the Ministry of Law and Justice. Another suspect in the case, former secretary Ministry of Law and Justice told the court that the summary of the project was forwarded to the cabinet and then approved.
Awan told the court that the project was approved by Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) in 2007. The first delay in the project occurred for eight months and second delay for six months, he said, adding that Zahid Hamid and Farooq H Naik were the law ministers at the time of first delay of the project. He said that the contract was signed with China in March 2009. Ministry of Law and Justice had taken the decision before he became the minister for law that could not be changed, he said.
Awan said that Law Ministry's opinion was sought after the agreement. The Ministry of Law had given its opinion and summary was forwarded to cabinet, he said, adding that Ministry of Water and Power had sent first summary on July 13, 2009 and second summary had been sent on 2011 and he had resigned from portfolio of law minister on April 11, 2011. He sad that summary of Ministry of Water and Power had been approved by cabinet on August 24, 2011. "Ministry of Law had given its opinion as per rules and regulations," he said.
The NAB prosecutor informed the court that dates mentioned in the case were incorrect as no postponement was made in the project while 14-month delay was written in the documents. He added that the Law Ministry was going to issue guarantee form and legal recommendations as the agreement was signed at the time. The Ministry of Law had given green signal of signing the agreement, he added. The court after hearing the arguments reserved verdict on Awan's acquittal plea which will be announced during the next hearing to be held on February 25.
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