ISLAMABAD: An accountability court in Islamabad Wednesday reserved its decision on a petition filed by former president Asif Ali Zardari in the Park Lane reference.
Zardari’s attorney argued that the Islamabad High Court’s decision on the Adam Amin Chaudhry case — that a reference could not be taken back — was not applicable to this case.
NAB prosecutor Usman Masood opposed the acquittal plea and noted that a loan worth Rs1.5 billion had been taken from a bank and transferred to the private bank account of a company in connection with the case.
The court will now decide on the jurisdiction of the Park Lane reference and the fate of Zardari, his sister Faryal Talpur, and the other accused who are charged with corruption and financial misappropriation.
An offshoot of the fake bank accounts case, the reference accuses Zardari of being involved “in extending a loan and its misappropriation by M/s Parthenon (Pvt.) Limited, M/s Park Lane Estate (Pvt.) Limited and others”.
The reference alleges that Iqbal, former member of CDA board Abdul Aziz Qureshi, director general Ghulam Sarwar Sandhu, former director Mehboob Ali Khan and Waqar Ali Khan caused a loss of Rs71 million to the national exchequer.
As many as 11 people have been accused of allotting plots in violation of rules and procedures.
