ISLAMABAD: An Islamabad accountability court has summoned former Sindh chief minister Murad Ali Shah in the Nooriabad Power Plant corruption reference.

The case has been recently revi­ved after the Supreme Court annul­­led the amendments to the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO).

The two-time former CM has been accused of misusing authority and awarding contracts without feasibility studies of the projects, allegedly causing a loss of Rs8 billion to the exchequer.

The reference is an offshoot of the fake accounts case where the ex-chief minister was accused of using his influence and releasing funds for the Nooriabad Power Plant in violation of rules.

The Nooriabad Power Plant project was launched in 2014 under a public-private partnership at a cost of Rs13bn in which the Sindh government holds 49 per cent shares and a private company owns the remaining 51pc shares.

It is also alleged that the ex-CM concealed material facts from the Sindh cabinet and allegedly misled it to benefit the Omni Group of companies, owned by Anwar Majeed, a close aide of former president Asif Zardari.

Mr Shah also managed to release a Rs3bn loan to the companies, it is alleged.

According to the reference, the Nooriabad Power Plant project was conceived to allegedly whiten Omni Group’s ‘black money’.

At the time, Mr Shah was the adviser to the then-provincial chief minister for finance and energy.

Besides Mr Shah and Mr Majeed, 16 others have also been named as accused in the reference.

In July, Mr Shah decried the case against him, saying the power plant had been providing 100MW of cheap electricity to Karachi since its commissioning.

Published in Dawn, October 4th, 2023