Corruption references: IHC dismisses NAB pleas against Zardari’s acquittal

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) dismissed the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) appeals against PPP co-chairperson and former president of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari’s acquittal in four corruption references.

A division bench of Chief Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Sardar Ejaz Ishaq Khan on Thursday heard the NAB’s applications seeking withdrawal of its appeals against Zardari’s acquittal in the references that went back to the 1990s.

The IHC bench dismissed the appeals against Zardari on merit despite accepting the NAB’s request to withdraw the appeals.

The NAB had filed these references against Zardari some 25 years ago. However, an Accountability Court (AC) of Islamabad had later acquitted the PPP leader in 2014 and 2015.

On Wednesday, the NAB filed an application in the IHC and adopted the stance that further prosecution of these cases would be futile as the available evidence was based on photocopies and did not comply with the Qanoon-i-Shahadat (law of evidence).

During the hearing, Additional Prosecutor General NAB Jahanzeb Khan Bharwana appeared before the court and requested the court to allow the Bureau to formally withdraw the appeals.

Justice Minallah said the anti-graft watchdog’s case was not based on merit. He added that the court had told you many times that this appeal is not warranted on merit.

The NAB prosecutor agreed with the judge’s remarks and added that was the reason the relevant authority had approved their withdrawal and the watchdog had also submitted a request to withdraw the case.

However, the IHC chief justice said that they are accepting NAB’s request to withdraw the appeals and also rejecting them on the basis of merit. He further pointed out that the appeals were not even justified on the basis of merit.

The chief justice asked the NAB prosecutor that if the institution had conducted any inquiry about the missing case record. Bharwana responded that an investigation was ordered in this regard.

The CJ IHC remarked that the NAB knew where the records had gone. He stated that on the last hearing the NAB told that the record went missing somewhere between the accountability court and the Supreme Court (SC).

The IHC CJ asked that are you saying that the registrars made those records disappear? Bharwana reiterated that an inquiry on the matter was ordered.

The NAB submitted four separate applications in the IHC to withdraw appeals against Zardari’s acquittal by the accountability court in the SGS and Cotecna, Ursus Tractors, Polo Ground, and ARY Gold references and adopted the stance that only photocopies of the documents are on record against the former president.

The anti-graft watchdog said in its application that only photocopies of the documents are on record in the references against Zardari and therefore, further prosecution is impossible.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022