Nandipur graft reference accused dies at Punjab Institute of Cardiology

LAHORE: An accused in Nandipur accountability reference died at Punjab Institute of Cardiology (PIC) in Lahore, ARY News reported on Tuesday.

Qaisar Abbas, one of the accused in Nandipur graft reference, detained by the National Accountability Bureau, died at PIC.

Abbas was said to be a patient of sugar and heart disease and was admitted at the cardiology institute where he breathed his last.

Jail authorities have shifted the dead body to mortuary for his post-mortem.

The accountability bureau had detained Qaisar Abbas in Nandipur corruption case on August 30, 2018. He was later transferred to jail.

In March, last year former PM Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, former federal minister Babar Awan and the other accused were indicted in the high profile case.

They were accused of causing delay in granting approval to the power project, which resulted in billions of rupees loss to the national exchequer.

In the reference, NAB contended that the project had faced a delay of 25 months and 15 days, resulting in a loss of Rs27.3 billion to the exchequer. The project, located in Gujranwala district, could not be completed and operated on time because the accused had failed to issue legal opinions.

The Nandipur project was approved by the Economic Coordination Committee on Dec 27, 2007, at a cost of $329 million.