Geneva, Aug 06: The Swiss lawyer of former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto said today that he would appeal against a magistrate's ruling finding her guilty of money laundering and hoped to have the case overturned. The move came as lawyers for the Pakistani government, which brought the case against Bhutto and her jailed husband Asif Zardari five years ago, said Bhutto and her associates were also facing separate investigations in Switzerland relating to about 60 million dollars in Swiss deposits.
An appeal, which has to be made before August 14, would suspend the Swiss investigating magistrates' decree imposing a six month suspended jail sentence on Bhutto, Zardari and a Swiss lawyer, Jens Schlegelmilch, and could bring the case before a court, defence lawyer Dominique Poncet told.
"It will be done within the 14 day limit, it just takes three lines," Poncet said.
The three were found guilty of laundering 11.7 million dollars through Swiss bank accounts, Geneva investigating magistrate Daniel Devaud ruled in a decree which Poncet received on July 31.
Devaud ruled that the money had come from an illegal six percent commission which Bhutto received for awarding a customs inspection contract to Swiss firms Societe Generale de Surveillance (SGS) and Cotecna.
Pakistan had also asked Switzerland to investigate about 60 million dollars said to belong to Bhutto and Zardari in Swiss bank accounts, Reza Vafadar, of the Swiss law firm acting for Pakistan's government, told. Bureau Report