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Court scraps graft cases against Zardari

A two-member bench of the Sindh High Court yesterday scrapped all corruption and graft cases against Pakistan Peoples Party's (PPP) co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, court officials said.

  • By Mujahid Ali, Correspondent
  • Published: 00:36 May 7, 2008
  • Gulf News

Karachi: A two-member bench of the Sindh High Court yesterday scrapped all corruption and graft cases against Pakistan Peoples Party's (PPP) co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari, court officials said.

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had filed cases against Zardari in local courts as well as abroad in an attempt to bring back what the then government said was "the wealth stolen from Pakistan" through kickbacks and commissions when Benazir Bhutto was in power during the mid-1990s.

PPP officials said Zardari had been facing around 12 cases and had even been made party to murder. The killing of Murtaza Bhutto, the younger brother of Benazir, was one of the cases, they said.

Although Zardari - who denies involvement in any of the cases - spent 11 years in jail awaiting trial for charges, he was never convicted.

Court officials said that Zardari had filed a petition in the Sindh High Court for withdrawal of the cases filed overseas, including the infamous reference in a Swiss court.

Reconciliation mandate

The two member High Court bench comprising Justice Qaiser Iqbal and Justice Mahmood Alam Rizvi settled the petition yesterday under the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO).

The NRO, which is bitterly criticised by rights activists and many prominent lawyers, was issued by President Pervez Musharraf last year after he reached an understanding with Benazir Bhutto, paving the way for her return to the country. Zardari, along with Bhutto, has turned out to be one of the main beneficiaries of the deal.

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