Zardari gets one month to approach SC

Ex-president wants apex court to determine NAB jurisdiction in Park Lane case

ISLAMABAD:

The Islamabad High Court on Tuesday granted PPP Co-chairperson Asif Ali Zardari a month’s time to approach the Supreme Court in an appeal against the premier anti-graft body’s jurisdiction in two references pertaining to fake accounts of the former president.

A division bench of the IHC, headed by its Chief Justice Athar Minallah, also observed that the National Accountability Bureau had investigated the fake accounts on the directives of the apex court, adding that only the concerned bench could decide the matter of jurisdiction.

During the hearing of appeals against the NAB’s jurisdiction in the Park Lane and money laundering reference, Advocate Farooq H Naek, who was representing the PPP leader, said the petitioner could apply to the Supreme Court for the interpretation of a certain paragraph in the judgment.

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Justice Minallah replied that the IHC had earlier given time to the petitioner to approach the Supreme Court for this purpose.

“What do we do now? Dismiss your appeals on this basis?” he added.

“How can the high court interpret the paragraphs of an SC verdict?”

The IHC directed that instructions be sought from the apex court and the high court be informed about them on March 29 – the next date of hearing.

The court also adjourned a petition filed by Bilal Sheikh, a former president of the Sindh Bank, against the NAB jurisdiction till March 29.

In August 2020, an accountability court had rejected Zardari’s plea against NAB jurisdiction in the Park Lane reference.

His lawyer had prayed before the court that the Park Lane reference did not fall under the jurisdiction of NAB as it was a case of ‘financial law’.

In July that year, the prosecutor for NAB made his arguments in the accountability court in the Park Lane reference against Zardari after his defence lawyer challenged the court’s jurisdiction in the matter.

The proceedings focused on an application of defence lawyer Naek for halting the Park Lane reference against Zardari.

NAB Deputy Prosecutor General Sardar Muzaffar Abbasi objected to the petitions, saying that when the court had decided to frame charges, the application for halting the proceedings could not be filed.

The Park Lane case is being investigated under different sections of the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) 1999, and the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2010, over Zardari’s alleged involvement in extending loan and its misappropriation by Parthenon Private Limited.

To determine the jurisdiction, Naek asked the court to see whether the NAB law or the Financial Recovery Act applied to the case.

He claimed that neither his client obtained any loan, nor did he have anything to do with the Parthenon Limited.