Former president’s exoneration in corruption references
ISLAMABAD: Former President and Co-chairman of the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Asif Zardari received relief on Thursday in proceedings brought against him 25 years ago when the Islamabad High Court (IHC) accepted the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) move to dismiss appeals against the former president’s exoneration in corruption references.
The case was heard by a two-member IHC panel presided over by Chief Justice Athar Minallah.
Appeals dismissed on merit
On behalf of NAB, Additional Prosecutor General Jahanzeb Khan Bharwana appeared before the court. In which Zardari gets relief. The court said that “NAB’s plea to withdraw appeals against Asif Ali Zardari’s acquittal in four references has been accepted. Appeals are dismissed on merit.”
The NAB had also stated in its plea that evidence against former president are not enough to be referred. Only photocopies of the documents are on file against the former president, which are harder to read so that further prosecution of the appeals was impracticable. Hence the court should permit the NAB to drop its appeals against Zardari’s acquittal in order to uphold the needs of justice.
In the cases of SGS, Cotecna, Ursus Tractors, and ARY Gold References cases, the accountability court had cleared the PPP co-chairperson, and the anti-graft watchdog had petitioned the court to drop its appeals.
Cases involving ARY Gold Reference and Ursus Tractors, which were brought in 2000 and 2001, were cleared by the court in December 2014. In 1998, this case was first established. On November 24, 2015, the accountability court declared Zardari not guilty in the Cotecna and SGS reference.
