Babar Awan resigns as NAB files reference for delay in Nandipur project

ISLAMABAD (92 News) – Adviser to the Prime Minister on Parliamentary Affairs Babar Awan resigned after the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) filed a corruption reference against him with regard to the Nandipur power plant. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Imran Khan has accepted his resignation. In a tweet on Tuesday, he said that he is tendering his resignation to fulfill Prime Minister Imran Khan’s promise to the nation. “Being a legal practitioner, I do not find it adequate to keep sticking to the post while facing an inquiry,” he said. Awan wrote he had resigned from the post of adviser to PM on parliamentary affairs, so that he might disprove allegations levelled against him in the NAB reference. The resignation comes hours after the National Accountability Bureau filed a corruption reference against Babar Awan regarding a delay in Nandipur Project in Accountability Courts Islamabad. Earlier, the National Accountability Bureau filed a reference against former prime minister Raja Pervez Ashraf and former minister for law and justice Zaheerud Din Babar Awan for delaying the Nandipur Power Project. The NAB statement said the delay caused Rs 27 billion losses to the national exchequer. The NAB Rawalpindi Directorate has filed a corruption reference against Ashraf, Awan and several civil servants claiming that the delay in the Nandipur Power Project caused losses worth Rs 27 billion to the national exchequer. Those accused besides the then ministers are former Ministry of Law and Justice secretary Muhammad Masood Chishti, former Law and Justice secretary Justice Riaz Kiyani (retired), research consultant Shamila Mahmood, former Law and Justice senior joint secretary Dr Riaz Mahmood and former Water and Power secretary Shahid Rafi. The Supreme Court had nominated a commission consisting of Justice (retired) Rahmat Hussain Jafari to fix responsibility for the Nandipur Power Project delay. The commission had blamed the Ministry of Law and Justice for the delay. The Ministry of Water and Power had sought advice from the Ministry of Law regarding the agreement. The latter had taken two years to respond. The unusual delay had caused Rs 27 billion losses to the national exchequer. The NAB said its investigation had shown that the suspects did not fulfill their responsibilities.