–Former PM Pervaiz Ashraf to appear before court on April 29 for indictment
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Friday raided former water and power secretary Shahid Rafi’s residence in Islamabad to arrest the former civil servant in a graft case concerning the rental power projects.
According to media reports, the bureau also confiscated some important documents from his house. Rafi is expected to be presented before an accountability court on Saturday morning where the bureau will seek his physical remand. At present, the former bureaucrat is being detained at the NAB Rawalpindi office.
The accountability watchdog is probing the former federal secretary and many others for alleged corruption in awarding the contract for a rental power project to a private company.
Rafi was among the suspects, including former prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, failed to appear before the NAB court on the day of their indictment. Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and other accused will appear before April 29 now.
The court had shown resentment over their non-appearance and adjourned the case and directed the suspects to appear before it on the aforesaid date for the indictment in the reference.
The RPP case pertains to private power companies that faced allegations of having received more than Rs22 billion mobilisation advance from the government to commission the projects, but failed to set up any plants.
Ashraf served as premier between June 22, 2012, and March 25, 2013, is accused of misusing his authority to get approval from the cabinet’s Economic Coordination Committee for an increase in the down-payment to the rental power companies from 7 to 14 per cent to overcome the power crisis from the country.