SC to hear Zardari plea for case transfer after winter vacation

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday admitted for hearing a petition, filed by former president Asif Ali Zardari, seeking transfer of corruption cases against him to Karachi, and directed its office to fix the matter after winter vacation.

A three-member apex court bench, headed by Justice Umar Ata Bandial, admitted for regular hearing the appeal of former president and directed its office to fix the matter after Jan 3, 2021. The court directed Farooq H Naek, counsel for Asif Zardari to make preparation for arguing the case as that was a matter of transfer of a case from one province to another.

On Nov 24, Justice Umar Ata Bandial, while hearing the appeal of Asif Zardari in his chamber, had set aside the objections raised by the Registrar office and directed the office to fix the matter before an open court for hearing within two weeks.

The former president had requested the apex court to transfer corruption references, filed by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against him from the Islamabad accountability court to Karachi. The counsel contended that his client could not appear before the accountability courts in the federal capital as he was suffering from various ailments and had been critically ill. He submitted that the cases were being heard in Islamabad courts, though all the accused, witnesses and documents were from Karachi.