Zardari acquitted in sixth and final corruption case!!!!
Accountability Court, Rawalpindi, on 26th August, acquitted Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari in what was the final corruption reference pending against him. The court acquitted former president as the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) failed to bring any concrete evidence or witness against Zardari. He got a clean chit in the sixth and final corruption reference against him, thanks to an apparently “friendly” and “weak” prosecution.
In the reference, Zardari and his wife, late former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, had been accused of acquiring assets through illegal means. The case was based on a reference filed by NAB in 2001 during former president Pervez Musharraf’s era, for allegedly acquiring assets through illegal means in Pakistan and abroad.
The plea for Zardari's acquittal, submitted by his counsel and PPP leader Farooq H Naek, was accepted by Justice Khalid Mehmood Ranjha, who ruled that the reference lacked a legal basis. The court noted that the NAB reference was not maintainable as the evidence submitted by the graft watchdog was in the form of Photostat copies only, which held no legal value.
The accountability court acquitted former President Asif Ali Zardari after hearing detailed arguments by the lawyers under an application 265-K. The court in its verdict said that reference documents were consisting of photo-state copies, which have no legal status so Asif Ali Zardari is acquitted.
It is worth to mention that this reference was filed against Asif Ali Zardari in 1998. He was accused of holding assets in Pakistan including, Mirza sugar mill, Sakrund sugar mill and Ansari sugar mill, besides this agriculture land, bank accounts and off-shore companies as well as in abroad through illegal means.
PPP stalwart Farooq H. Naek represented Zardari and filed petition for bail in Judge Khalid Mehmood Ranjha’s court which was approved. It was ruled that there is no legal basis of corruption references filed by NAB.
In the outset, the hearing of the reference was started in Lahore after this; the hearing was shifted to Attock fort accountability court. The hearing of the said reference was continued for two years. In 2015, the reference was again sent to Accountability court Rawalpindi and overall forty witnesses presented while four investigation officers probed the reference. Five difference investigation reports were presented before the court.
During this span, which lasted for almost two decades, this reference was closed down due to National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) during ruling period of former President Musharraf. Then the reference was reopened in 2008 after termination of NRO and when Asif Ali Zardari was the president of Pakistan but it was postponed due to immunity of the President for four years. Finally the accountability court after nineteen years acquitted former President Asif Ali Zardari in the reference.
Suspicious role of NAB
According to various Pakistani Newspapers, since NAB’s current chairman Qamar Zaman Chaudhry was due to retire on Oct 10, “stakeholders” wanted the case to be concluded before his retirement. NAB has not appeared too enthusiastic in its pursuit of this high-profile corruption reference.
A lesser-known prosecutor, Sardar Tahir Ayub, who was appointed to NAB by the PPP government, was assigned to the case.
Surprisingly, Mr Zardari’s defence team — led by Farooq H. Naek — also included Sardar Zulqernain, a serving legal adviser with the Pakistan Occupied Jammu and Kashmir Accountability Bureau, along with other lawyers.
Mr Zulqernain has worked with Rawalpindi NAB as an additional deputy prosecutor general and is known as a close friend of the prosecutor, Tahir Ayub.
ccording to a senior NAB official, the prosecutor should have objected to the presence of Mr Zulqernain, since an official of the POJK Accountability Bureau could not appear as counsel for an accused.
What was NRO?
The National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) was a controversial ordinance issued by the former President of Pakistan, General Pervez Musharraf, on 5 October 2007. It granted amnesty to politicians, political workers and bureaucrats who were accused of corruption, embezzlement, money laundering, murder, and terrorism between 1 January 1986, and 12 October 1999, the time between two states of martial law in Pakistan. It was declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Pakistan on 16 December 2009, throwing the country into a political crisis. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) presented a list of 248 politicians and bureaucrats to the government, whose cases were cleared by NAB due to NRO.