IHC disposes of corruption references against Zardari as NAB withdraws appeals

ISLAMABAD: Winding up 25-year-old corruption cases involving PPP CO-Chairperson Asif Zardari, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) Thursday disposed of four references after the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) withdrew their appeals against the acquittal of the former president.

A two-member bench of the IHC headed by Chief Justice Athar Minallah heard the case.

Additional Prosecutor-General Jahanzeb Khan Bharwana appeared before the court on behalf of NAB.

The corruption references were lodged against the PPP leader by the NAB some 25 years ago. Asif Zardari, however, was acquitted in the cases during 2014-15. Later, the NAB filed pleas against the acquittal of the PPP leader.

A day earlier, the NAB submitted a request to the court to withdraw the appeals against the former president. In its application, NAB mentioned that only photocopies of the documents in the references against Zardari are on record, which has made further prosecution impossible.

The anti-graft body submitted four separate petitions to the IHC to withdraw appeals against Zardari's acquittal by the accountability court in the SGS, Cotecna, Ursus Tractors, and ARY Gold References.

During today’s hearing, Justice Minallah remarked the NAB’s cases were not based on merit.

“NAB’s plea to withdraw appeals against Asif Ali Zardari’s acquittal in four references has been accepted,” the court stated.

It is pertinent to mention here that the ARY Gold reference and Ursus Tractors cases were filed in 2000 and 2001 which the court acquitted in December 2014. The cases were initially created in 1998.

Zardari was also acquitted by the accountability court in the Cotecna and SGS reference on November 24, 2015.