Park Lane reference: Zardari’s counsel granted cross examination of witness

ISLAMABAD: The Accountability Court on Wednesday granted time to former president Asif Ali Zardari’s counsel for cross examination of prosecution witness in the Park Lane case against Zardari and others.

The Accountability Court-II judge, Muhammad Azam Khan, while hearing the case, approved the defence counsel Farooq H Naek’s request seeking for cross examination of prosecution witness, Ahsan Aslam, an official of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP).

At the start of the hearing, Naek requested the court to grant him time for cross examination of the witness, which the court approved, and adjourned the hearing of the case till December 21.

The prosecution witness during the previous hearings produced a number of documents before the court regarding MS Parthenon Company, a “front company” (straw borrower) of M/s Park Lane Private Limited.

At the start of the hearing, Zardari and other accused’s counsel filed separate exemption applications seeking one day exemption of their clients, which the court approved.

According to the NAB, Zardari and others had allegedly embezzled funds obtained for M/S Parthenon (Private) Limited and M/S Park Lane Private Limited, which inflicted losses of Rs3.77 billion to the national exchequer.

As per the joint investigation team (JIT), it was found that the M/S Parthenon was merely a “front company” (straw borrower) of M/s Park Lane Private Limited.

M/s Parthenon had no independent business when it entered into a joint venture (JV) with the M/S Park Lane (October 2009), it said.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020