The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that Swiss cases against PPP Co-chairman and former president Asif Ali Zardari cannot be reopened as they were time-barred and their statutory limitation period has expired.
The apex court, on July 4, had sought details of assets of former presidents Pervez Musharraf and Zardari while hearing a case regarding the recovery of losses incurred because of the infamous National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO).
The anti-graft body on Wednesday submitted a two-page report to the top court, detailing its findings on the NRO as well as the cases against the PPP co-chairman.
“The federal government’s failure to file a timely appeal meant that the cases against Asif Zardari are now time-barred,” the NAB stated in its report.
It added, “Swiss officials have excused themselves from reopening the cases as they are now out of date.”
The corruption watchdog, in its report, also included a list of pending cases against Zardari in Pakistan courts.
“There are five pending cases against Asif Zardari in high courts, including an assets-related case that has been in the Lahore High Court since 2015,” NAB informed the court.
Moreover, four other cases — the SGS, Cotecna, Ursus tractors and ARY gold import — have been pending in the Islamabad High Court for the last few years, the anti-graft body added.
The bureau further said that it had found no evidence of the NRO causing any financial loss to the national kitty.
Zardari, although never convicted, was in prison from 1997 to 2004 on charges pertaining to money laundering, corruption and murder. When Nawaz Sharif was re-elected as prime minister in 1998, he initiated the case in Switzerland which accused Benazir Bhutto and Asif Zardari to have embezzled $60 million in kickbacks in Swiss bank accounts.
In 2011, the Supreme Court ordered Gilani to send a letter to Swiss authorities to reopen the graft case against the head of the state. However, Gilani did not comply with court’s orders because he was of the view that Zardari enjoys immunity being the head of state. The top court had convicted the former prime minister with contempt of court and disqualified him in the same case during 2012.
