National accountability 400 million spent pursue cases against Asif Ali Zardari. But he acquitted in four of the five corruption cases made against him.
The National Accountability Bureau has spent over Rs400 million to investigate and pursue cases against Asif Ali Zardari during the past 16 years.
National accountability 400 million spent pursue cases against Asif Ali Zardari.
However, the bureau appears reluctant to give details of the expenditure on the cases heard in the country and by a Swiss court.
According to sources, National Accountability Bureau has been pursuing cases against the former president since its inception in 1999.
But he acquitted in four of the five corruption cases made against him.
He acquitted in the SGS-Cotecna pre-shipment inspection, polo ground, Ursus Tractors and ARY references.
The only case the Peoples People Party leader is still facing is about accumulation of assets and he has filed an appeal for acquittal.
Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s government initiated in 1997-98 a case through the then Ehtesab Bureau in Switzerland, accusing.
The late PPP chief Benazir Bhutto and Mr Zardari of having received $60m in kickbacks in Swiss bank accounts.
In August 2003, both of them were found guilty.
However, the penalties of $100‚000 and an order to return $2m to the government suspended on appeal.
After the takeover by Gen Pervez Musharraf in 1999, the cases transferred to National Accountability Bureau.
The sources said the bureau had so far spent Rs250million in pursuing the cases.
In Switzerland and over Rs100million in Pakistani courts.
Miscellaneous expenses on the cases said to be over Rs50million.
The expenses made on investigation, hiring legal firms, lawyers’ fee and travel, boarding and lodging aboard.
The National Accountability Bureau’s spokesman Nawazish Ali Asim was not available for comment.
Talking to Dawn, the PPP’s spokesman Farhatullah Babar said that Mr Zardari kept behind bars for eight years in NAB cases which proved baseless.
“Those who made these cases had tried to damage our judicial system and they must examine their own conscience,” he said.
National accountability 400 million spent pursue cases against Asif Ali Zardari.
He said the Pakistan People Party had no plan so far to file a damages suit against National Accountability Bureau and those who had made fabricated cases.
The Islamabad accountability court exonerated Mr Zardari from charges of using official position for pecuniary benefits in the 1998 SGS-Cotecna.
However, National Accountability Bureau approached the Islamabad High Court against the verdict on Dec 3.
