ISLAMABAD: The Accountability Court on Wednesday turned down the acquittal pleas of former prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and other accused in Naudero-II Rental Power Plant (RPP) in Sindh case.

The Accountability Court judge, Muhammad Bashir, while announcing reserved judgement of the case, rejected acquittal application of Ashraf and 10 other accused. Ashraf and others had filed acquittal applications under the NAB Amendment Ordinance, 2019.

The other accused include former additional secretary Ministry of Water and Power Sheikh Zarrar Aslam, former Managing Director (MD)/Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Pakistan Electric Power Company (PEPCO) Engineer Tahir Basharat Cheema, former directors PEPCO board of directors (BOD) Malik Muhammad Razi Abbas, Wazir Ali Bhayo, former General Manager (GM) Wapda power privatization organisation (WPPO), CEO central power generation company Ltd (CPGCL) Tariq Nazir, Rana Muhammad Amjad, and Abdul Malik.

The NAB had filed a reference pertaining to Naudero II power plant case in 2013, according to which, former premier Ashraf and other accused had allegedly misused their powers, inflicting a loss of Rs7.5 million on the national exchequer.

The bureau had filed 12 RPP references including the Turkish ship-mounted power plant (Karkey), Piranghaib power plant, Multan, Sahiwal power plant, Guddu power plant in Sindh, Naudero-I power plant in Sindh, Naudero-II power plant in Sindh, Reshma Power Generation in Raiwind, Young Gen Power Ltd, Bhikki, Gulf Rental Power Pvt. Ltd, 150MW Sharaqpur RPP and Gujranwala Electric Power Company (Gepco).

Out of the 12 cases, the Accountability Court Islamabad has acquitted Ashraf and others in two cases; Multan, Sahiwal power plant and Piranghaib power plant, while the Accountability Court Lahore has acquitted Ashraf and others in the Gujranwala Electric Power Company (Gepco) case.