An accountability court in Islamabad has on Wednesday rejected the acquittal pleas of former prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and other suspects in the Nandipur reference.

The verdict was pronounced by AC Judge Azam Khan. The court after rejecting the acquittal plea of the PPP stalwart, order to continue trial in the reference.

Accused cannot be given relief under the new amended laws of the NAB, the court said in its verdict.

The former prime minister had filed acquittal plea under the new amended National Accountability Laws.

It may be mentioned here that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had alleged that the nominated accused had caused delay in the execution of Nandipur Power Project which led to the loss of Rs27 billion to the national exchequer.

The Nandipur Power Project was approved by the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet on December 27, 2007, at a cost $329 million.

The contract was signed on January 28, 2008, between the Northern Power Generation Company Limited (NPGCL) and Dong Fang Electric Corporation of China and two consortiums COFACE for 68.967 million Euros and SINOSURE for $150.151m were established for financing the project.