SC orders to arrest Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf

The Supreme Court of Pakistan has ordered to arrest Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf in rental power plant case.

A three member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Chaudhry Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry resumed the hearing of rental power case. During the hearing, the bench ordered to arrest the PM and directed the authorities to submit the report by tomorrow.

The prime minister has been accused of receiving kickbacks and commission in the RPPs case as minister for water and power.

In the case, nine RPPs firms were accused of receiving more than Rs22 billion as a mobilisation advance from the government to commission the projects but most of them did not set up their plants and a few of them installed them but with inordinate delay.

In March 2012, the Supreme Court had held the RPP contracts non-transparent and ordered that these be rescinded.

The court had also ordered National Accountability Bureau chairman Admiral (retd) Fasih Bokhari to proceed with corruption references against those who were at the helm of affairs when the contracts were signed between 2006 and 2008 to overcome the energy shortfall through RPPs as a stopgap arrangement.

The unlucky ones who were expected to face criminal charges at the time of the apex court’s ruling included Liaquat Jatoi, Raja Pervez Ashraf as well as Naveed Qamar and Waqar Masood. During their tenures, down payment to different RPPs was increased from seven to 14 per cent.

Meantime, the Karachi Stock market also crashed immediately after the court’s order, as the 100-index fell by 450 points.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=37299

Posted by Faisal Farooq on Jan 15 2013. Filed under Latest News, National, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.