Former Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf speaking in a press conference in Lahore. Photo: Geo News

LAHORE: An accountability court on Tuesday indicted former prime minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf and eight others in a National Accountability Bureau reference in a case related to alleged illegal recruitment in the Gujranwala Electric Power Company (Gepco).

According to the NAB reference, Ashraf recruited as many as 437 people without taking merit into consideration. The accountability court heard the case filed by NAB in 2016.

The other eight people indicted in the case are Muhammad Ibrahim, Hashmat Ali Kazmi, Tahir Basharat Cheema, Malik Muhammad Razi Abbas, Saleem Arif, Wazir Ali and Shahid Rafi.

The court has summoned witnesses to record their statements. Ashraf while speaking to the media rejected all charges filed by NAB today.

Along with the GEPCO scam, Ashraf is already indicted by another accountability court in Islamabad in the rental power case. All accused, including the former federal mister for water and power, refused to plead guilty.

Ashraf is accused of misusing his authority during his tenure as minister to get approval from the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) for an increase in the down payment to the rental power companies from 7 per cent to 14 per cent, amounting to about Rs22 billion.