ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s top court drew a line yesterday under a showdown with the government over corruption allegations against the president which has dragged on for nearly three years.
Since December 2009, the Supreme Court has insisted that the government re-open multi-million-dollar graft cases against Asif Ali Zardari in Switzerland that were frozen when he became head of state in 2008.
Earlier this year it convicted and dismissed prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani for refusing to ask Switzerland to re-open the cases, but the government appeared to back down last month by agreeing to write to the Swiss.
After weeks of wrangling over the wording, the Supreme Court yesterday approved a third draft of a letter to the Swiss authorities and asked for an update on the situation in four weeks.
“We found that the proposed communication conforms to the judgement of this court and it also expresses concern of the prime minister of Pakistan,” judge Asif Saeed Khosa said, ordering another hearing on November 14.
The government has long argued that it could not ask the Swiss to reopen the cases as the president has immunity from prosecution as head of state.
The full letter was not released, but portions read out in court asked the Swiss to disregard a 2008 communication the former attorney general sent to close proceedings against Zardari.
The letter also said it was sent “without prejudice” to any legal defence available to Zardari under Pakistan’s constitution and international law -- an allusion to his immunity as head of state.
The allegations against Zardari date back to the 1990s, when he and his late wife, former premier Benazir Bhutto, are suspected of using Swiss banks to launder $12m in alleged kickbacks.
Law minister Farooq Naek welcomed the ruling, telling the court: “It is a victory of justice.”
Speaking to reporters outside court, the minister insisted that “no national wealth has been plundered.”
Critics have argued the Supreme Court’s dogged pursuit of the Swiss cases amounted to a political crusade against the coalition government headed by the Pakistan People’s Party.
AFP
