NEW DELHI, January 25 - RAPSI. The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to file references for new case against Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf and expects a compliance report before by January 30, the Pakistani newspaper Daily Times writes.

The court suspects Ashraf, as well as Interior Minister Rehman Malik and PPP Secretary General Jehangir Badar, of illegally appointing Tauqir Sadiq as chairman of the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA).

According to the court, they later helped Sadiq to escape, after a case of embezzling several billion Pakistani rupees was opened against him. Sadiq was detained in United Arab Emirates, but then released shortly after. A corruption case has also been initiated against Ashraf.

The Supreme Court ordered the prime minister's arrest on January 15. The decision was made at a hearing on corruption in energy projects. However, NAB Chairman Fasih Bukhari said there was insufficient cause to enforce the court ruling.

The arrest was ordered as part of the investigation into the case against nine firms that had previously received advance payments of $225 million from the Cabinet of Ministers for permission to build power plants in the country.

However, only several companies completed the construction. The projects were delayed, and the plants they ultimately built produced insufficient volumes of energy. The National Assembly elected Ashraf to head the government in June 2012. He had formerly served as the country's water resources and energy minister.

Earlier this week, the investigation was suspended due to the death of Kamran Faisal, one of the NAB officers probing the case. Chairman Fasih Bukhari said the investigation into the Ashraf case would resume only after the inquiry into Faisal's death is completed.