Court decides SGS case after 13 years

All accused acquitted, judge declares immunity for President Zardari; says prosecution failed to substantiate charges.

RAWALPINDI:

Pronouncing its verdict in the 13-year-old graft case – commonly known as SGS reference – an accountability court on Saturday absolved all accused, except President Asif Ali Zardari who enjoys constitutional indemnity, and declared that the prosecution has failed to substantiate the charges.

Judge Mian Altaf Hussain Mahar acquitted all the accused, including former chairman of Board of Revenue AR Siddiqui and declared that Asif Zardari, being the President of Pakistan, is immune from criminal prosecution under Article 248 (2) of the constitution.

In the 35-page judgment, the judge, however, declared several officials of SGS – a Swiss inspection, verification, testing and certification company, including director Jens Schlegelmilch and vice president Colin Robey as proclaimed offenders for their absence and issued their arrest warrants.

In the SGS reference filed in 1997, it was alleged that Siddiqi negotiated a pre-shipment contract between the Government of Pakistan and SGS to obtain pecuniary advantages for then prime minister Benazir Bhutto and her spouse Asif Ali Zardari on September 20, 1994.

They were accused of receiving kickbacks through the offshore bank accounts of Schlegelmilch.

The court referred to statements of various prosecution witnesses and arguments of defence counsel Muhammad Arshad Tabrez and said that the pre-shipment scheme and the award of contract to SGS and Cotecna had brought an additional Rs27 billion in the national exchequer.

“Indeed, for each dollar paid to the companies, the government benefited by nearly $7 in additional revenue. The pre-shipment inspection scheme also curtailed corruption in the customs department,” the judgment stated.

The defence attorney had argued that there was practically no evidence against the accused and that none of the prosecution witnesses had made any statement suggesting that the accused or co-accused had received any commissions and kickbacks.

The prosecution story on kickbacks and their deposit in the Geneva Bank has been falsified through the statement of prosecution witnesses 13 (who is also the investigation officer in the case) and 16, the court said.

The prosecution witnesses also admitted to the defence’s version that the relationship of the principal accused with foreign companies had not been established, and admitted that the pre-shipment scheme was first introduced in Pakistan in 1990 and a similar draft agreement was prepared during the government of Nawaz Sharif, but was not executed.

The court noted that prosecution witness 13 had admitted that he had not come across any evidence showing that Bhutto, Zardari and Siddiqui had collaborated and abused their authority in awarding the contract.

It said that not an iota of reliable and admissible evidence has come on record to prove allegations that SGS had given kickbacks to Zardari.

Prosecution witness 13 also admitted that Zardari had no concern with any bank account in Geneva relating to the offshore companies.

The verdict said that there is sufficient material on record to believe that idea of pre-shipment scheme was not floated for the first time in 1994 but that even in 1990 the SGS was selected for the award of contract through international bidding.

ARY case

The court also acquitted former commerce secretary Brig (retd) Aslam Hayat Qureshi, former principal secretary to president Salman Farooqi, three directors of ARY Gold Company – Haji Abdur Razzaq Yaqoob, Abdur Rauf and Jan Muhammad – in the case of giving and taking gold important licence in violation of the rules and regulations.

The proceedings in the case have already been dropped following the death of Bhutto because President Zardari already enjoys constitutional immunity.

The court, however, issued permanent arrest warrants for former finance secretary Javed Talat and declared him a proclaimed absconder for not appearing in the court.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 31st,  2011.