ISLAMABAD: The Accountability Court on Wednesday dismissed the Naudero-II Rental Power Project (RPP) corruption reference against former prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and others.

The Accountability Court-I judge, Muhammad Bashir, while announcing reserved judgement, dismissed the Naudero RPP reference against Ashraf, Shahid Rafi, Tariq Nazir, Abdul Malik,Rasool Khan Mehsood, Sheikh Zrara Aslam, Tahir Basharat Cheema, Razi Abbbas, Wazir Ali Bhayio, and Rana Amjad.

The accused have challenged the reference under the National Accountability (second and third amendment) Ordinances, 2021. Under the National Accountability (second and third amendment) Ordinances, 2021, the case does not fall in the jurisdiction of this court, the court order says. The same court, in 2019, rejected the acquittal applications of the accused under first amended NAB Ordinance 2019. The NAB had filed the reference against the accused in 2013.

The bureau has alleged that the accused incurred a loss of Rs75 million to the national exchequer.

The anti-graft body had alleged that the accused tried to transfer the machinery of the Guddu Power Plant to the Naudero-II power plant.

It added that the NEPRA later did not approve the transfer of the machinery.

“The accused had earlier issued a processing fee of Rs75 million for the transfer of the machinery”, said the NAB.

It added that the accused inflicted a loss to the national exchequer by paying fees for illegal work.

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).