ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) is still pursuing a probe against the newly-elected Prime Minister, Raja Pervez Ashraf, for his alleged involvement in the multi-billion rupees Rental Power Plants (RPPs) scam.

“NAB has not yet cleared or given a clean chit in the RPP scam to Raja Parvez Ashraf,” a senior NAB official told Business Recorder on condition of anonymity on Friday. He said Raja Pervez Ashraf had been summoned and he recorded his statement in April.

The official said that following the directives of the Supreme Court, NAB had also sent a request to the Ministry of Interior to place Raja Pervez Ashraf’s on the Exit Control List (ECL) in connection with the scam. Names of 13 other officials, including former federal minister for water and power Liaquat Jatoi and former federal minister for finance Shaukat Tarin, were also included in the list.

The Ministry of Interior, he said, had not yet placed the name of Raja Pervez Ashraf and others on the ECL.

The official said that NAB has so far recovered Rs2.012 billion from RPPs on the directives of the Supreme Court. Efforts, he said, had been geared up to recover all outstanding money ranging between 18 and 20 billion rupees.

In the light of ADB’s audit report, the Supreme Court declared on March 30 that RPP contracts were not transparent and asked NAB to recover the advance money from owners of the projects along with interest for the period they had kept the funds with them. The Supreme Court also directed NAB to initiate legal proceedings against Raja Pervez Ashraf, the former minister for water and power.