An accountability court in Islamabad will indict Chief Minister Sindh Murad Ali Shah in the Nooriabad Power Plant case on June 30, it emerged on Tuesday
Judge Asghar Ali of the court heard the reference filed against Murad pertaining to fake bank accounts
The judge approved the request of the accused to exempt him from appearing in the hearing for a day
Justice Ali, however, fixed June 30 as the day for indicting the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) leader in the Nooriabad Power Plant reference
Also read Accountability court summons CM Murad in fake accounts case on March 31 During the hearing, National Accountability Bureau (NAB) prosecutor told the court that the co-accused, Muhammad Ali, had taken refuge abroad
At this, the court declared the co-accused an absconder, ordered permanent arrest warrants for him, put his name in the Exit Control List and block his Computerised National Identity Card (CNIC)
The court ordered all accused to appear on the next hearing, June 30, and adjourned the proceedings
The reference, filed by NAB Rawalpindi in an accountability court in Islamabad, stated that the funds Shah had issued for power projects in Sindh were in violation of rules and that billions of rupees were embezzled in the Nooriabad Power Company and Sindh Transmission and Dispatch Company projects
Also read NAB files reference against CM Sindh in fake accounts case The Nooriabad Power Project was originally envisaged by the Sindh government in 2012 but could not materialise then due to “red-tapism and delays in regulatory approvals”
The project was finally launched in August 2014 under a public-private partnership at a cost of Rs13 billion in which the Sindh government held 49% shares and a private company owned 51%
A 95-km-long, 132kV double-circuit transmission line was laid from Nooriabad to Karachi at a cost of Rs1
95 billion
Shah was an adviser to then Sindh chief minister of finance and energy at the time
It was alleged that the procedure had caused a loss of $16 million to the national exchequer
Date: | 09-Jun-2021 | Reference: | View Original Link |
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