Nandipur Power Project: AC-II summons Khawaja Asif, Naveed Qamar as witnesses

ISLAMABAD: The Accountability Court-II Tuesday summoned former federal ministers Khawaja Muhammad Asif of PML-N and Syed Naveed Qamar of PPP in Nandipur Power Project reference against former prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and Babar Awan.

Judge Arshad Malik resumed the hearing of reference and summoned both the former federal ministers to testify on the next hearing scheduled for March 21.

Former law minister Babar Awan and a witness from the Ministry of Power Muhammad Naeem appeared before the court.

During arguments, NAB prosecutor Mohammad Shabbir and Babar Awan exchanged harsh words. The judge expressed anger at the both for disturbing the court decorum.

In the previous hearing, the court had indicted the accused who pleaded not guilty and opted to contest charges. The judge then directed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to present witnesses to record their testimonies.

NAB has named former PM Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Babar Awan, former law secretary Riaz Kiyani, Masood Chishti, ex-consultant Shumaila Mahmood, former joint secretary Riaz Mahmood and ex-secretary Shahid Rafique as the accused. In the last hearing, the court had indicted Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Babar Awan and five others.

Nandipur power project was approved in 2007 by the Economic Coordination Committee. To get legal opinion, the Ministry of Water and Power approached the Ministry of Law in 2008. However, with mala fide intentions, the project was delayed, causing Rs27 billion loss to the national exchequer.