Court reserves verdict in Park Lane Reference against Zardari

ISLAMABAD: An Accountability Court (AC) on Wednesday reserved its judgment on its jurisdiction in the Park Lane Reference against former president Asif Ali Zardari under the NAB Amendment Act 2022. AC-II Judge Nasir Javed reserved the decision after listening arguments from both sides at length.

Zardari’s lawyer Farooq H. Naek appeared before the court and argued that the Park Lane Reference didn’t fall into the jurisdiction of this court after the amendments in the NAB law.

The court said there were observations of the High Court in Adam Amin Chaudhry’s case that the reference couldn’t be returned. The lawyer said that the decision of the High Court couldn’t be applied to this reference as it was a case of an amnesty scheme and tax.

The NAB prosecutor, Usman Masood, opposed the acquittal plea of the former president and said the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) and Summit Bank had a joint venture.

The Park Lane company had received a loan worth Rs1.5 bn which was later increased to Rs2.8 billion.

He prayed to decide the jurisdiction of the reference.

The court reserved the verdict as the two sides completed their arguments.