An accountability court in Islamabad on Tuesday discharged former Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf from multiple National Accountability Bureau (NAB) references related to the rental power projects.
Announcing the verdict on three NAB references concerning the rental power projects, Accountability Court Judge Ali Warraich acquitted Ashraf and several others in the Sharaqpur, Bhakki, and Karkey references.
The Karkey Ship reference had estimated corruption of Rs22 billion, while the Karkey company had also filed a claim of Rs200 billion against Pakistan. However, the PPP leader and 11 others have been discharged from the case.
Meanwhile, in the Sheikhupura reference relating to the Bhakki powerplant—a project costing Rs96 billion—the accountability court acquitted the former Wapda chairman and six others, along with those named in the Sharaqpur power reference.
This is not the first corruption reference related to the rental power projects from which the former premier has been acquitted, as he was previously exonerated in the Pira Ghaib rental power plant case back in 2020.
Karkey Rental Power Project
Karkey Karadeniz Elektrik Uretin (KKEU) was one of 12 rental power companies that were awarded contracts by the PPP government in 2008-09 to “resolve” the power crisis.
The company failed to provide the required electricity and then moved to the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), which imposed a $1.2 billion penalty on Pakistan in 2017, now amicably resolved.
Due to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s intervention, the $1.20 billion fine imposed on Pakistan was waived.
The PPP government had entered into an agreement with Turkey in 2009 to provide electricity and awarded the contract to nine RPP firms (both local and international) for this purpose.
The Pakistan Electric Power Company (Pepco), working under the Ministry of Power and Water, signed a contract worth $564.6 million with a Turkish company, “Karkey.”
Under the agreement, a rental power project was installed in Karachi to supply 231 megawatts of electricity to PEPCO. However, the rental project failed to do so, given that the electricity turned out to be costly to the country, as the government had to pay $9.4 million monthly to the Turkish company.
The contract was guaranteed by the government of Pakistan, which prompted the Turkish company to move to the World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) over breach of the agreement.
Pakistan lost the case in 2017 and was ordered to pay a total amount of approximately $780 million (the “Award”), which carried an approximate monthly interest of $5.5 million.
