Court defers Pervez Asharaf’s indictment in Rental Power case

ISLAMABAD: An accountability court on Wednesday deferred indictment of Former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf in Rental Power Project reference until March 26, ARY News reported.

Ashraf was supposed to be indicted in the reference today but the court adjourned proceedings of the indictment as he skipped today’s court appearance.

The court has issued notices to the Pakistan People’s Party(PPP) leader and other accused to ensure their appearance before it on March 26.

Pervez Ashraf served as 19th prime minister of Pakistan from 22 June 2012 until completing his designated term on 16 March 2013 in the government of Pakistan People’s Party.

Mr Ashraf is accused of misusing his authority during his tenure as the minister for water and power to obtain approval from the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) and the cabinet for an increase in the down payment to the rental power companies from 7 per cent to 14 per cent, amounting to about Rs22 billion.

Read more: Co-accused becomes approver in Rental Power Projects case

He authorised on April 13, 2009, the submission of a summary to the ECC which allegedly contained misleading facts, stating that the terms and conditions of the bidding envisaging 7 per cent advance could not be met and should be raised to 14 per cent.

It may be noted that former Sahiwal Multan Rental Power Project manager Rana Amjad has become an approver in the case against Pervez Ashraf.