Park Lane Reference: Asif Zardari will be indicted on August 10

 

ISLAMABAD (07-Aug-2020) The Accountability Court (AC) has once again postponed the indictment of former President Asif Ali Zardari and other accused in the Park Lane reference and fixed a new date of August 10. . On the request to remove Asif Ali Zardari's reference in Park Lane reference, Accountability Court Judge Muhammad Azam Khan heard Asif Ali Zardari's lawyer Farooq H Naik and National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Deputy Prosecutor General Sardar Muzaffar Abbasi. Appeared.

During the hearing, the NAB dismissed Asif Ali Zardari's plea and pleaded guilty. The Deputy Prosecutor General told the court that Asif Zardari could not withdraw the plea after all the arguments were completed. He said that the accused was deliberately using delaying tactics. Yes, after one month of delaying the indictment, today they are withdrawing the application for reply. Asif Zardari's lawyer Farooq H Naik took a stand in the court saying that the Park Lane reference is not a case of NAB law but a case of financial laws. The judge remarked that the court will issue an order on the plea of ​​Asif Ali Zardari. Dismissed both pleas of Asif Ali Zardari and fixed August 10 as the date for indictment of Asif Ali Zardari.

It is to be noted that petitions were filed by Asif Ali Zardari to remove the reference and challenge the jurisdiction of the court. It is believed that Asif Zardari was accused of being a member of Parthenon Pvt. Ltd., Park Lane State Pvt. Ltd. In his arguments, Asif Zardari's lawyer, Advocate Farooq H. Naik, had informed the court that the former president had been a director of Park Lane, but that he had not been able to persuade the president. He resigned from the company in 2008 before taking office.

The defense counsel had said that the NAB, as usual, ignored all the financial rules while filing the reference against his client. He had said that the NAB had sought the mandatory approval of the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) against Asif Zardari. He could not have acted in the case without it, he said, adding that it was a case of intentional default and the SBP was the only forum that could initiate action against his client. In violation of the relevant financial laws, the matter began its own investigation.

Giving details of the case, the lawyer had pointed out that when Parthenon Pvt. Ltd. obtained the loan on October 30, 2009, President Asif Ali Zardari was not a director of the company but a shareholder of Park Lane. The directors had accepted Asif Zardari's resignation but could not temporarily take the matter to the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP).

Also in the last hearing, NAB had informed the accountability court that two accused in the Park Lane reference have become pardoned witnesses against former president Asif Ali Zardari. NAB had earlier accused former presidents of National Bank of Pakistan (NBP). Ali Raza and Qamar Hussain were involved in the case, but in the last hearing, the accountability body changed its position and included them in the list of prosecution witnesses. NAB Deputy Prosecutor General Sardar Muzaffar Khan Abbasi appeared in the accountability court. He said the two former heads of the bank were among 61 witnesses whom the prosecution wanted to present in court to prove the allegations against the former president.