An accountability court in Islamabad on Wednesday rejected the plea filed by PPP senior leader Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, seeking acquittal in the Naudero-2 Rental Power Plant reference, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

The judge, Muhammad Bashir, in his verdict on the application, said the former prime minister could not be acquitted in the case and ordered to continue with the trial.

Meanwhile, the applications filed by other accused – Tariq Nazi, Abdul Malik, Rasool Khan Mehsud, Shahid Rafi, Sheikh Zarar Aslam, Malik Muhammad Razi Abbas, Wazir Ali Bhayo and Rana Muhammad Amjad –  were also rejected.

They had filed applications for acquittal under NAB (Amendment) Ordinance 2019 while citing that the national exchequer did not suffer any losses.

The NAB had filed the reference against the former prime ministers and others in 2013, accusing them of illegal use of their authority and causing a loss of Rs7.5 million to the national kitty.

Earlier, the same accountability court had acquitted Raja and other accused in two references related to two rental power plants – Sahiwal and Piranghaib – on June 23 and June 30 respectively. The NAB had filed a total of 11 references related to the Rs22 billion Rental Power Projects (RPPs) cases.

Interestingly, the court in both of its judgment had mentioned that the references were held no ground since there had been no loss incurred to the national exchequer.

The verdicts came after acquittal pleas were submitted by the former prime minister and others under the NAB (Amendment) Ordinance 2019.