Assets reference case: Rawalpindi accountability court summons witnesses on June 2

Court exempts former president from appearing before court in hearings

KARACHI: An accountability court in Rawalpindi summoned on Thursday witnesses in assets reference case against former president Asif Ali Zardari  on June 2, Express News reported.

The reference is one of the six cases established by National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against Zardari for his alleged financial corruptions. On April 17, the court had reopened the case and issued a notice to the former president.

Read: Court summons Zardari in assets reference case

Zardari appeared before the court today (May 21) amid tight security where the case was heard by Judge Khalid Ranjha. The former president had failed to appear earlier due to food poisoning.

Read: Zardari misses assets reference hearing due to food poisoning

His counsel, Farooq H Naek, also requested the court to exempt his client from appearing before the bench which the judge accepted.

These cases – including SGS pre-shipment, ARY Gold, Ursus tractors, Cotecna, assets beyond means, and polo ground references – were closed in 2007 after the former military ruler Pervez Musharraf promulgated the controversial National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO).