KARACHI - Pakistan People’s Party on Monday rejected the verdict of a Swiss tribunal that ruled a jewellery set, seized by authorities in connection with SGS-Cotecna investigations, belonged to former President Asif Ali Zardari or legal heirs of the late Benazir Bhutto.
The set, which includes a necklace, a bracelet, a pair of earrings and a ring, and is said to be valued over $180,000, was seized by authorities in connection with investigations into graft allegations and money laundering. The Swiss court judgment was issued on Oct 29 and reported in media outlets. It rejected ownership claims for the jewellery filed by Bomer Finance, a company allegedly formed by Mr Jens Schlegelmilch and linked to Mr Zardari. This company was at the centre of the SGS-Cotecna investigation.
In a statement issued on Monday, PPP spokesman Farhatullah Babar, who also served as spokesman for ex-president Zardari, said he had not yet seen the ruling of the Swiss tribunal but on the basis of his association with the case, he could say that the piece of jewellery never belonged to Benazir Bhutto. "There is no question that it belongs to her legal heirs or to Asif Zardari. Let there be no doubt or mistake about it,” the spokesperson said. “Any assertion that the jewellery belonged to the legal heirs of Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto is based on totally wrong and incorrect assumption that it actually belonged to her,” Senator Farhatullah Babar added. He recalled that on September 19, 2005 Benazir Bhutto had personally appeared before the Swiss Investigation Magistrate in Geneva and categorically denied purchasing the jewellery or ownership of Swiss companies involved in money laundering.
“After appearing before the Swiss magistrate and recording her statement, Benazir Bhutto also addressed a press conference in Geneva denying ownership of the jewellery and the Swiss companies involved in money laundering,” he said. Babar said that in one of the hearings the owner of the jewellery shop denied having any knowledge about Benazir Bhutto and stated that she did not purchase the jewellery from him. “All this is on record and can be verified from the records of the proceedings before the Swiss magistrate and the newspaper archives of that time.” The PPP leader also upheld that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) at that time claimed that a jewellery set had been seized from Mohtarma’s locker in Geneva but later it was proven before the Magistrate that the former prime minister did not have any locker in Geneva.
“It had also been claimed at the time that Jens Schlaglemilch was the agent of Mohtarma which too proved false as per the testimony of Schlaglemilch himself,” he said. Babar further recalled that it was the same case in which the Supreme Court of Pakistan had set aside the conviction awarded by the Trial Court in Pakistan and also passed stinging strictures against the trial judge. “The bias [of the judge] floated on the surface of record, the SC had remarked forcing most unceremonious exit of two judges from the bench,” he said.