Nandipur Reference: Islamabad High Court endorses acquittal of Babar Awan

The High Court of Islamabad (IHC) on Tuesday rejected the appeal of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against the decision of the Accountability Court in the Nandipur Power Reference.

According to the details, the court upheld the acquittal of Adviser to the Prime Minister on Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan and retired Justice Riaz Kiani in the case.

A two-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Athar Minallah, dismissed the appeals filed by NAB challenging an accountability court’s June 25, 2019 verdict of acquitting them in the case.

The bench set aside the trial court’s verdict that dismissed an acquittal plea of former law secretary Masood Chishti, who is named as accused in the case, and exonerated him from all charges.

On June 25, 2019, the then accountability judge Muhammad Arshad Malik had acquitted Babar Awan and Kiani while dismissed acquittal pleas of former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf and other accused in the case.

It may be recalled that Babar Awan and others were indicted in the case in March 2019. The charges against them included “causing a delay in according approval to the project”, which caused losses worth billions of rupees to the national exchequer. However, all of the accused had pleaded not guilty.