The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has reportedly decided to file an appeal in the Lahore High Court (LHC) against the Rawalpindi accountability court’s decision to acquit Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari in a case related to the illegal accumulation of assets.
According to a Geo News report, the NAB prosecution branch is drafting the appeal.
On Saturday, the accountability court had acquitted Zardari of all charges in a reference related to alleged illegal assets in Pakistan and abroad. The judge said that NAB had failed to provide any evidence or witnesses in this regard.
In the reference, Zardari and his wife, the late former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, had been accused of acquiring assets through illegal means.
The reference was filed before an accountability court in 2001 and was closed in 2007 under the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO), issued by the government of former military strongman General Pervez Musharraf.
The Supreme Court, in its verdict in the NRO case on December 2009, had ordered the revival of cases closed under the ordinance. By then, however, Zardari had been sworn in as president and therefore enjoyed immunity under Article 248 of the Constitution.NAB re-opened the assets reference in April 2015 as Zardari had completed his term in office. The former president was acquitted in five of the six references after a retrial before the accountability court.
Zardari has faced a total of six corruption references; apart from the assets reference, the former president was also implicated in the SGS, Cotecna, Polo Ground, Ursus Tractors and ARY Gold corruption references.
The Court which aquitted is suspect. The concerned Judge must be investigated.
There is sufficient documentary evidence to prove that Asif Zardari is guilty. Wajid Shamsul Islam the then High Commissioner in UK went all the way to Switzerland and collected all Documents related to Zardari case. The photos appeared in all major newspapers with Shamsul Islam transporting documents in a trolly on way to London. These documents have not been seen since. This is why I feel the Judge is not clean.
Comments are closed.