Nandipur power project reference: Kh Asif on NAB’s move making him witness

ISLAMABAD: “I will cross the bridge when I come to it,” is how former federal minister and senior Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Khawaja M Asif responded when asked about the possibility of deposing against Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and Babar Awan in Accountability Court.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has included Khawaja Asif and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) leader Naveed Qamar among its thirty-five witnesses to produce in the court in a reference relating to Nandipur power project.

When contacted, Khawaja Asif told The News that in this case he had got relief from the Supreme Court several years back. All the facts he had been pressing are documented and are publicly available, he said. The PML-N leader said that while being in the opposition he had filed a public interest petition against the federal law ministry, and not against any specific person in the apex court about the Nandipur power project, pointing out that this ministry has been sitting over the legal advice for more than a year that it was supposed to tender without any delay. It delayed the project and financially damaged Pakistan’s economy, he said.

The apex court, he said, had formed a one-man commission consisting of Justice (R) Rehmat Hussain Jaffery to look into the matter. “I and other concerned people appeared before the commission more than once and presented their side of the story.” The commission, Khawaja Asif said, handed over its report to the Supreme Court, concluding the economy sustained a loss of Rs113 billion because of the delay and incompetence. The court then sent these findings to the NAB for action.

He said that he later became minister for water and power in the new PML-N government. He said that no action was taken on the report by the NAB for six years. Finally, the outgoing Chief Justice had taken notice of the matter, he said adding that he had projected the view that his job had finished after the commission had presented its report to the court. After that, the NAB became activated, carried out its investigation and filed the instant reference against Babar Awan, Pervaiz Ashraf and others.

At the time the alleged delay was caused by the law ministry, Pervaiz Ashraf was the minister for water and power and Babar Awan was the law minister. Babar Awan later joined the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI). He had to tender his resignation from the current federal cabinet after the NAB filed the present reference in the court. The first witness, a Section Officer of the water and power ministry, will depose as the prosecution witness before the Accountability Court of Islamabad on March 19, which will set the ball rolling for recording of evidences.