Accountability court summons Zardari on May 5

RAWALPINDI: Former President Asif Ali Zardari has been summoned before the National Accountability Court (NAC) Rawalpindi on May 5.
The summons were issued by Accountability Court of Khalid Mehmood Ranjha on Monday after re-opening of a corruption case against the former president according to which he had allegedly failed to submit correct details of his wealth. The reference against Zardari was filed by National Accountability Bureau (NAB). Special Prosecutor NAB Raja Khurram Ejaz appeared before the court while Farooq H Naik represented the accused.
During the hearing, Naik pleaded that the accused had not yet received the summons while he appeared before the court seeing the news in the press. Subsequently, the court directed to issue summons again to the accused to appear in person before the court on next hearing. Raja Khurram Ejaz asked the court to reopen the asset reference after five years, claiming that Zardari’s presidential immunity has expired and he can be tried in the court. In 2014, the Islamabad Accountability Court had acquitted Zardari in three corruption references filed by NAB 17 years ago. Zardari is still facing two references — SGS and Contecna — and on December 22 last year, the court had rejected his acquittal plea and the cases had been fixed for January 8 for further hearing.