Babar Awan acquitted in Nandipur project reference

ISLAMABAD: An Accountability Court (AC) Tuesday acquitted two accused including former law minister Babar Awan and retired Justice Riaz Kiyani in Nandipur Power Project reference.The court, however, dismissed the acquittal pleas of three accused including former prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, Shumaila Mehmood and Riaz Mehmood.Accountability Court-II Judge Arshad Malik announced the judgment on acquittal pleas filed by five accused.A total of seven accused had been nominated by NAB in reference.However, the accused persons except Shahdi Rafi and Masood Chishti had filed acquittal pleas to the trial court.The decision on Babar Awan’s plea was reserved on April 26.The NAB had stated in reference that the national exchequer had faced a loss of Rs27 billion due to delay in execution of Nandipur Project.The accused had committed dishonesty in their responsibilities, it stated.