National Accountability Bureau (NAB)’s Executive Board Meeting (EBM), chaired by NAB Chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry at Bureau’s Headquarters in the federal capital on Thursday, decided filing corruption reference against former prime minister and former minster for water and power Raja Pervez Ashraf.
Besides Ashraf, the first reference will be filed against former Ministry of Water and Power secretary and former Pakistan Electric Power Company (PEPCO) chairman Shahid Rafi, former PEPCO chairman Ismail Qureshi, former PEPCO managing director (MD) Munawar Baseer Ahmad, former PEPCO MD and chief executive officer (CEO) Tahir Basharat Cheema and others in Rental Power Projects (RPP) case titled, “M/S Techno Engineering Services (Pvt) Ltd, at Sammundri Road Faisalabad and Summundri Road extension”.
In this case, the respondents have been accused of misusing authority, corruption and corrupt practices by conducting illegal/unauthorised international competitive bidding in violation of National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (NEPRA) Act. They were allegedly involved in illegal and non-transparent award of contract for extending financial benefits to sponsors and in making illegal/unauthorised changes in terms of contract through revision of letter of award, in violation of the advertised criteria.
The EBM also decided the closure of three inquiries against former MNA Mrs Naheed Khan, former PEPCO MD Tahir Basharat Cheema and former KP chief secretary Javed Iqbal due to lack of incriminating evidence.