Court office returns Park Lane supplementary reference

The registrar office of an accountability court in Islamabad has returned a supplementary reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against the PPP supreme leader Asif Ali Zardari in Park Lane case.

The office said during scrutiny of the reference, it discovered that documents were not properly annexed to the reference. It asked NAB to resubmit the reference after doing proper indexing.

The country’s prime anti-graft body on Tuesday filed the supplementary reference against Zardari in the Park Lane case, accusing him of using fake documents to get a bank loan for a dummy corporation.

Islamabad’s Accountability Court-II Judge Azam Khan on August 10 indicted the PPP supreme leader and other accused in the Park Lane reference – a case which involves allegations of money laundering and misuse of authority.

The main reference in the Park Lane case accused Zardari of influencing relevant authorities during his tenure as the president – from 2008 to 2013 – to get loans for his front companies.

The former president allegedly got a loan of Rs1.5 billion released for Parthenon Private Limited “with ill intention”, and the money was later transferred for his personal use through fake bank accounts.

NAB accused the former president of causing the national exchequer a loss of Rs3.77 billion. In its 13-page long reference, NAB alleged that the accused created benami properties through Park Lane Company using Parthenon Private Limited as the front.

Using the money acquired through loans, eight floors were constructed at the IBC Centre.

Initially, a loan of Rs1.5 billion was taken that swell to Rs3.77 billion due to known payment. Former executive director of the Security and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), and two former presidents of the National Bank of Pakistan, are listed as witnesses against Zardari in this reference.

NAB’s Rawalpindi office on Tuesday filed a supplementary reference accusing that the Rs1.5billion loan was acquired using fake documents. It also nominated two officials of a private bank as co-accused.

The letters sent by the bank to Parthenon Private Limited, demanding repayment of the loan installments were attached with the supplementary reference.

It claimed that Parthenon refused to repay the loan. The supplementary reference requested the court to make new evidence, documents and witnesses a part of the main reference.