NAB exonerates Asif Zardari from SGS-Cotecna references

In its verdict, the court announced that an accused can not be punished without availability of original documents.

Farooq H Naik counsel for Asif Ali Zardari said that Saif ur Rehman instituted cases for political victimization and fabricated documents were filed in the court. He asked what was reason to file a case when there were no evidences.

PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said that acquittal of former President Asif Ali Zardari in SGS-Cotecna case by concerned court has once again proved that the leadership of PPP has always been targeted through fake cases and references after their adversaries failed to politically challenge them. Zardari, who has already served some eight years in jail on corruption charges while his wife, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, was forced into exile in the 1990s, has been charged for allegedly receiving six per cent kickback award of pre-shipment contracts. SGS is a Swiss inspection, verification, testing and certification company.

The former president has already been acquitted in other three cases – the ARY Gold, Polo Ground and Ursus Tractor corruption references.

In Ursus tractors reference, the former president was being accused of misappropriation in the purchase of 5,900 Russian and Polish tractors at a cost of Rs150,000 each, for then Awami Tractor Scheme.

The name of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto was removed from the references after her assassination while another accused former CBR chairman AR Siddiqui was acquitted over lack of evidences. Hence, the cases should be dropped and accused be acquitted, the counsel argued. The court had acquitted co-accused Brigadier Aslam Hayat Qureshi (Retd), Salman Farooqui, Abdul Rauf, Jan Muhammad and Haji Abdul Razzaq Yaqoob (the late).

PPP Chairman said that multi-millions spent on the initiation, investigations and prosecution of the case in the form of secret funds, legal fees in national and global currencies and trips overseas of Ehtesab Bureau, NAB and FIA officials should be recovered.