ISLAMABAD: An accountability court in Islamabad on Friday indicted former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf and other accused in the rental power case.
The former prime minister and all other six accused refused to plead guilty whereas the bench hearing the case sought all relevant evidence from the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in the next hearing of the case which was adjourned until February 4.
Ashraf, while talking to media after the hearing, declined to comment on the issue as the matter was sub-judice and further said that the character assimilation campaign being run on the media was regrettable.
The former premier 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.
Raja Ashraf 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.
