How Zardari outsmarted judicial system

ISLAMABAD:

Despite all efforts by the superior judiciary and powerful circles, newly elected President Asif Ali Zardari has always managed to avoid conviction in graft cases throughout his political career.

"I literally wear out judicial proceedings," said Zardari in an interview on a private TV channel a couple of years ago.

Former additional attorney general Tariq Mahmood Khokhar said Zardari epitomizes his wife Benazir Bhutto’s legacy of vengeance for democracy.

“Zardari is a man of many parts: He is a constitutional reformer who empowered parliament and the federating units, led the PPP out of political wilderness, and steered it into mainstream politics.

“He is a past master in the art of the possible, with deep insight into the politics of Pakistan, and a sustainer of the Bhutto dynasty, albeit through other means," he said.

Zardari has remained imprisoned for 11 years at different times. He was in jail even during the PML-N’s second rule in 1997.

The PML-N government led by Nawaz Sharif had written to the Swiss authorities and asked them to investigate allegations of corruption against various individuals including Zardari.

Subsequently, several accountability cases were instituted against the PPP leader. None of those cases ever reached finality.

In 1999, Zardari was convicted in the SGS-Cotecna case by a bench of the Lahore High Court headed by Justice Malik Muhammad Qayyum.

However, Justice Qayyum was later found to have privately discussed these cases with various members of the Nawaz Sharif government and the Supreme Court rightly set the conviction aside.

During the era of General Pervez Musharraf, Zardari remained in jail.

In 2004, he was released on bail after spending eight years in jail without ever getting convicted.

In 2007, Musharraf promulgated the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) in order to close graft cases of political leaders.

Subsequently, in 2008, Asif Ali Zardari became the president of Pakistan. The PPP-led government was then reluctant to restore former chief justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry.

After the lawyers’ agitation, Justice Chaudhry was restored in March 2009. However, the PPP government was not given credit for the restoration of judges.

Later, the Supreme Court led by CJ Chaudhry on December 16, 2009 declared the NRO as unconstitutional.

Meanwhile, a bench was constituted for implementing the NRO judgment in which the federal government was directed to write a letter to the Swiss authorities regarding the reopening of cases against Zardari.

However, the PPP government contended that the president enjoyed immunity and a letter could not be written to the Swiss authorities.

Later, a larger bench even convicted the then prime minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani, in a contempt case. The same bench also issued contempt notice to the next PM Raja Pervez Ashraf.

Finally, the PPP government wrote a letter to the Swiss authorities but the communication did not have any effect.

Both the PPP government and Zardari faced tough times during Justice Chaudhry’s tenure. However, despite all efforts, Zardari remained secure.

Former CJ Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry had also constituted a commission to probe the scandal with regard to the writing of a controversial memo to the US government during the PPP’s rule.

The inquiry commission led by Justice Qazi Faez Isa had later held that it could not be established that Pakistan's former ambassador to the US Hussain Haqani wrote the memo to US authorities on the instruction of Zardari.

Asif Ali Zardari also faced a tough time during the PML-N’s third government between 2013 and 2018.

Firstly, the then interior minister, Chaudhry Nisar, initiated an inquiry into alleged money laundering by the PPP leader through fake bank accounts.

Later, former CJ Mian Saqib Nisar took suo motu notice of the scandal and constituted a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to probe the fake accounts allegations.

After the submission of the JIT report, a bench led by Justice Nisar referred all graft cases filed against Zardari and his close aides to an accountability court in Islamabad.

Serious reservations were expressed by PPP lawyers over the transfer of cases from Karachi to Islamabad court.

The review petitions filed by Zardari and others were also rejected by the SC led by former CJP Asif Saeed Khosa.

During the PTI’s rule, Zardari and his sister, Faryal Talpur, were sent to jail in the fake accounts cases. After spending months in jail, they got bail on medical grounds.

Accountability courts also expedited proceedings in the cases. The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had nominated Zardari in five references in which charges were framed during the PTI’s rule.

However, the proceedings in those cases were stopped after the ouster of the PTI led federal government in April 2022.

When Shehbaz Sharif became the prime minister, the PML-N led coalition government made amendments to the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO), 1999. Those amendments favored Zardari.

Subsequently, Imran Khan challenged the amendments in the NAO, 1999 in the Supreme Court.

The SC by a majority vote of 2 to 1 struck down the amendments made to the NAB law.

In view of the majority opinion, graft cases against Zardari were restored. Later the federal government filed an intra-court appeal (ICAs) against the judgment.

A larger bench led by incumbent CJ Qazi Faez Isa is hearing the government's appeal against the judgment.

The bench has halted the accountability courts to give final decisions in the cases until the court’s decision in this matter.

Now newly elected President Asif Ali Zardari will enjoy complete immunity in criminal cases for the next five years.

Credit also goes to Zardari's counsel Farooq H Naek who delayed the trials through different tactics.

In the Toshakhana case, Imran Khan was convicted in a couple of months while Nawaz Sharif was also convicted in the Panama case.

However, Zardari has always managed to evade conviction.