An accountability court on Friday absolved and acquitted former chairman Capital Development Authority (CDA) Saeed Mehdi in the polo ground corruption reference, in which President Asif Ali Zardari was the main accused.
The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had filed the polo corruption reference in the accountability court in 2000, and included the names of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and CDA offical Shafi Sehwani as well besides Zardari and Mehdi. The former chairman was alleged to have constructed a polo ground at the Prime Minister House during Benazir Bhutto’s first term in office.
President Zardari, the main accused in this case, has immunity while CDA official Shafi Sehwani is dead. It was alleged in the reference that the construction of the polo ground was executed on the verbal orders of Asif Ali Zardari and Mehdi. The polo ground cost an estimated Rs52.29 million to the national exchequer while Mehdi was alleged to have embezzled Rs0.6million.
A total of 26 prosecution witnesses were examined that included officials of the CDA. The case was closed in 2008 after promulgation of the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) and it was re-opened on December 16, 2009 after the Supreme Court annulled the NRO.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 2nd, 2011.
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