NAB court indicts Zardari in Park Lane reference

ISLAMABAD: An accountability court in Islamabad indicted former president Asif Ali Zardari in the Park Lane reference via video link on Monday.

The accountability court judge had directed authorities for ensuring presence of the accused for the hearing. Zardari appeared before the court for the hearing via video link from his Bilawal House residence in Karachi.

Other suspects in the case also attended proceedings of the case via video link. Zardari told the court that his lawyer Farooq Naek was busy in court hence he could not be indicted. “Your lawyer knew beforehand about the date of today’s hearing,” responded the judge. “You will be indicted (today).” The accountability court judge said Naek could have sent his assistant lawyer to attend the hearing. “These are just two simple sentences in English… you can listen to them and answer,” said the judge.

Zardari requested the judge to write in his order that the charges were framed against him whilst his lawyer was not present in court. “Charges are always framed against the suspect. If his or her lawyer does not present himself before the court we cannot force [the lawyer] to do so,” replied the judge.

The judge then proceeded to read out the charges against Zardari. The former president pleaded not guilty to the charges. A few days ago the accountability court had rejected the former president’s petitions and directed that the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader be indicted on August 10. The former president’s indictment was postponed due to various petitions filed by his lawyer against the reference.

In June, Zardari’s lawyer had moved a petition challenging the accountability court’s jurisdiction to hear the Park Lane reference. Zardari’s lawyer Naek had requested the court to decide the petition before the trial began.

National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) deputy prosecutor general Sardar Muzaffar Abbasi had opposed the petition and requested the court to dismiss it as being baseless.

A Karachi-based private company—Park Lane Estate Pvt Ltd—had purchased almost 2,500 kanals of land near Sangjani, Islamabad, from Faisal Sakhi Butt who himself purchased the land from a Pakistani American living in Houston, Texas in the USA named Muhammad Nasir Khan for merely Rs62 million.

Nasir Khan was the original purchaser of this land in 1994 and was alleged by anti-corruption watchdog in 1997 to be Zardari’s frontman in the then Ehtesab Bureau reference filed against him in 1997.

However, all the legal requirements were met and followed in the purchase and transfer of this land from one man to another and then to Park Lane Estate Pvt Ltd which was a Karachi-based company.

According to the Form A Annual Return of the company, its share capital as reflected in the Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) record then showed it had 120,000 shares, of which Zardari and Bilawal own 30,000 shares each.

Zardari was shown as a director and his son as a member with four others who appear as members and debenture holders.

In 1997, the Ehtesab Bureau of Mian Saifur Rehman initiated a case against Zardari while the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) arrested some persons related to the same case.

Media reports in 1997 had then stated that Zardari had forcibly acquired the 2,500 kanals of land while allegedly uprooting 300 families to set up a polo ground and a riding pavilion in Sangjani.