Babar Awan acquitted in Nandipur case Raja Pervaiz Ashraf's release plea rejected.

Islamabad -- An accountability court on Tuesday accepted the acquittal plea of former law minister Babar Awan and Justice Riaz Kiyani in the Nandipur Power Project reference while rejecting the plea of former premier Raja Pervaiz Ashraf.

The acquittal pleas of Shumaila Mehmood and Dr Riaz Mehmood were also rejected by the court.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had nominated a total of seven accused, five of whom had earlier filed bail pleas, in this reference pertaining to delay in execution of the Nandipur Power Project which caused a loss of Rs27 billion to the national exchequer.

The Nandipur project was approved by the Economic Coordination Committee of the cabinet on Dec 27, 2007, at a cost of $329 million. Following the approval, a contract was signed on Jan 28, 2008 between the Northern Power Generation Company Limited and the Dong Fang Electric Corporation, China, and two consortiums - Coface for 68.967m euros and Sinosure for $150.151m - were set up for financing the project.

The water and power ministry sought legal opinion on the project from the law ministry in accordance with the schedule of the agreement in July 2009, but the accused repeatedly refused to provide it, according to NAB. The water and power ministry also failed to take any concrete steps to resolve the issue and the matter remained pending.

Meanwhile, leaders belonging to Pakistan People's Party and Pakistan...