NAB chief orders inquiry of fraud in Nandipur Power Project

ISLAMABAD: Chairman National Accountability Bureau Justice (retd) Javed Iqbal has ordered Director General NAB Lahore to conduct an inquiry of alleged corruption in outsourcing the Nandipur Power Project Gujranwala.

Chairman NAB Justice (R) Javed Iqbal ordered an inquiry on the direction of a Supreme Court order to examine corruption allegations with reference to the findings of the one-man commission of former Justice Rehmat Hussain Jafri on the Nandipur power project. A three-judge Supreme Court bench, headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, had ordered NAB to probe alleged corruption in the power project on June 7.

During the proceedings, the Chief Justice had asked howlong the file related to the project would remain pending in the law ministry. The Secretary Ministry of Energy had told the bench, “Nandipur power project was established in 2005 to generate 525 megawatts of electricity. It was estimated to cost Rs22 billion but it went up to Rs58 billion due to delays.”

It is to be mentioned here that during the course of hearing on June 7, the chief justice also expressed annoyance at the "exploitation of labour" by the state after a workers' union representative said the government had not paid the employees working on the Nandipur Power Project.

The apex court was informed that the government had promised to appoint 25 percent of the staff for the project after it was outsourced but had not done so. The energy secretary had admitted the claim but could not offer an explanation about why the promise had not been fulfilled yet.