ISLAMABAD: An accountability court in Islamabad on Monday deferred until November 17 the indictment of Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and 16 other suspects in the Nooriabad Power Plant reference.
The indictment was delayed after one of the accused, Ali Sheikh, challenged the reference under the National Accountability Bureau (Amendment) Ordinance, 2021 while a report of another accused suffering from Covid-19 was also submitted before Judge Asghar Ali.
The court issued notices to the dirty money watchdog on the petition and adjourned the hearing.
The project was launched in 2014 under a public-private partnership at a cost of Rs13 billion in which the Sindh government holds 49 percent shares and a private company owns the remaining 51 percent shares.
Under the project, around 95-kilometre-long 132kV double-circuit transmission lines were laid from Nooriabad to Karachi at a cost of Rs1.95 billion.
Shah has been accused of misuse of authority and award of contracts without feasibility of the projects causing Rs8 billion loss to the national exchequer.
In the reference, which is an offshoot of the fake accounts case, the chief minister is accused of using his influence and releasing funds for the plant in violation of the rules.
The bureau has charged Shah under sections 9(a) 1, 4, 6, 11 and 12 of the National Accountability Ordinance.
It is also alleged that the chief minister concealed the material facts from the Sindh cabinet and even misled it to benefit the Omni Group of companies.
Shah also managed to release an Rs3 billion loan to the companies, it is alleged.
