Islamabad: President Asif Ali Zardari
allegedly gained financial benefits worth billions of dollars
when graft cases against him were dropped under a law that has
now expired, according to documents submitted by Pakistan's
anti-corruption watchdog to the Supreme Court on Tuesday.
The documents provided by the National Accountability
Bureau (NAB) showed that Zardari had been accused of illegally
amassing assets worth USD 1.5 billion and Rs 22 billion,
mainly during the period when his slain wife Benazir Bhutto
was the premier in the 1990s.
Zardari was charged with amassing assets beyond his means
of income and these cases were dropped under the controversial
National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO), issued by former
military ruler Pervez Musharraf two years ago.
NAB submitted the documents in the apex court after a
17-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry
sought details of all beneficiaries of the NRO, which expired
on November 28 after the government failed to get it endorsed
by Parliament within a deadline set by the apex court.
The bench yesterday began hearing challenges to the
expired law and the amnesty granted under it to over 8,000
people, including Zardari and several of his close aides.
The documents provided by NAB further stated that several
corruption cases were registered against Zardari for allegedly
causing losses to the public exchequer by misusing his
authority during his tenure as a minister in his late wife's
Cabinet.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, December 08, 2009, 16:00