The Accountability Court hearing Reshma Rental Power Plant (RPP) and the Gulf Power Generation Company (Ltd) cases against former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf and others on Thursday sought reply from the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on acquittal applications filed by different accused under the NAB Amendment Ordinance 2019.

The Accountability Court judge, Azam Khan, while hearing the case against Ashraf and others sought reply from the NAB about the acquittal applications. The NAB prosecutor, Usman Masood, and defence counsel Arshad Tabraiz appeared before the court.

The defence counsel filed acquittal plea under the NAB Amendment Ordinance 2019 on behalf of Fazal Ahmad, Abdul Majid Khan, NA Zubairi, and Ghulam Mustafa Tunio, accused in reference number 05/2017. The same accused also filed acquittal application through their counsel in reference number 14/2017.

The court sought reply from the NAB and adjourned the case till March 16. The PPP leader, Raja Pervez Ashraf, is accused of misusing his authority during his tenure as federal minister for water and power to get approval from the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) for an increase in the down payment to the rental power companies from seven to 14 percent, amounting to about Rs22 billion.

The bureau is investigating all 12 RPPs and has filed references in cases including 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, and 150MW Sharaqpur RPP.