Court to indict Zardari in gifts case on Sept 9

An accountability court on Monday decided to indict former president Asif Ali Zardari and other accused in the Toshakhana – gift repository – case on September 9.

The court, however, stopped the process of declaring another accused in the case – former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif – a proclaimed offender till August 25.

Islamabad’s Accountability Court-III Judge Asghar Ali resumed hearing of the case amid an unusually heightened security that irked the counsels and companions of the PPP supreme leader. Zardari had travelled from Karachi to Islamabad to attend the hearing.

At the last hearing, the judge had issued bailabale arrest warrants for Zardari due to his continued absence from the court. Zardari had requested the court last week to allow him to appear in the court through video link, citing his chronic illnesses and the fear of contagious coronavirus pandemic.

The court had, however, rejected the request. On Monday, the former president and his legal team as well as other party leaders including PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari reached the court complex after passing through number of security checkpoints.

The police only allowed the vehicle carrying Zardari to enter the court premises. In the courtroom, the counsels for Zardari complained about being mistreated and even shoved by police officials on their way to the courtroom.

The defense counsels and prosecutors of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) –the country’s prime anti-graft body – also exchanged harsh words. As the hearing started, the judge also revealed that the security personnel even stopped his vehicle when he was coming to the court.

A heavy contingent of security forces had blocked the routes leading to the court premises as NAB wanted to prevent a repeat of the violence witnessed outside its office in Lahore on August 11.

NAB Lahore had summoned PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz in connection with an inquiry but the PML-N leader turned up accompanied by hundreds of activists who clashed with police and NAB officials.

When the hearing started, Zardari came to the rostrum to get his attendance marked. The court ordered all accused to submit Rs2million worth security bonds each to ensure their presence at the next hearing. Later, it announced to indict Zardari and other accused on September 9.

Counsel for PML-N supreme leader Nawaz Sharif requested the court to stop the process of declaring him a proclaimed offender. He said an Islamabad High Court (IHC) special bench was to hear the PML-N’s appeal against the accountability court’s June 30 order later in the day {Monday].

The court accepted this request and stopped the process till August 25.

Zardari and former prime ministers – Nawaz Sharif and Yousuf Raza Gilani – have been accused by NAB of illegally receiving luxury vehicles and gifts from the gift depository.

The anti-corruption body maintained that evidence collected during the course of inquiry and investigation established that Gilani had, in order to extend benefit to Zardari and Nawaz, illegally allowed the retention of vehicles gifted to them by different foreign states and dignitaries.

According to the bureau, Zardari had received expensive cars as a gift from Libya and the UAE when he was the president but he did not deposit them in the Toshakhana after end of his tenure.

The NAB prosecutor told the court that bureau had decided to seize the vehicles of Zardari and Nawaz, two BMWs and a Lexus owned by the former president and Mercedes by the former premier.

The court has already issued a bailable arrest warrant for Zardari. During the previous hearing, the court also issued a non-bailable arrest warrant for Nawaz and directed the Foreign Office to implement the arrest orders through the Pakistan consulate in the United Kingdom.

Nawaz later challenged the accountability court's proceedings against him in the Toshakhana reference and asked the IHC to declare the summons in the case null and void.