Zardari corruption cases: Attorney general sends note to PM

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan’s attorney general has sent the prime minister a summary of the Supreme Court’s orders on reopening the corruption cases against President Asif Ali Zardari, who allegedly received benefits from deals with international companies and deposited the money in Swiss banks.

During a hearing here Friday, Attorney General Justice (retd) Anwar-ul-Haq said the “summary has been sent to the prime minister regarding the court’s orders to reopen Swiss cases”. He, however, refused to divulge any details of the summary.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB), during the tenure of then prime minister Nawaz Sharif, initiated the cases against Zardari on charges of corruption.

It was alleged in these cases that Zardari was a major beneficiary of offshore companies registered in various parts of the world and the benefits he allegedly received from the shady deals were deposited in Swiss banks.

The hearings continued during the rule of then president Pervez Musharraf, when it was decided to bring in a National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) to dispose off all pending cases and give immunity to all tainted politicians and government officials.

It also paved the way for the return of exiled politicians, including Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, to Pakistan before the 2008 elections. The then attorney general Malik Qayyum sent a letter to Swiss authorities to withdraw all cases against Benazir Bhutto and her husband Asif Ali Zardari.

After Pakistan’s Supreme Court struck down the NRO in December 2009, it also ordered the reopening of all cases that were closed under this controversial ordinance.

A former director general of the Intelligence Bureau, Brig. (retd) Imtiaz and a high-ranking bureaucrat, Adnan Khwaja, were sent to jail earlier this September on the orders of the apex court as their acquittal under the NRO was revoked.

The most talked about of these cases is against Zardari, who has since become Pakistan’s president after his party came to power in the general elections of 2008.

The government, however, has shown reluctance on the issue of writing a letter to Swiss authorities, on the grounds that it could not proceed against the Pakistani president.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry has warned the authorities concerned to comply because “there could be dire consequences otherwise”.

Former attorney general Anwar Mansoor Khan, who resigned a few months ago, said “the government is not willing to reopen these cases under any circumstances”.

Law secretary Justice (retd) Aqil Mirza and the chairman of the National Accountability Bureau, Naveed Ahsan, also resigned.

The hearing of the NRO case has been adjourned by the supreme court till Sep 27.

(Awais Saleem can be contacted at ians.pakistan@gmail.com)