RAWALPINDI The Accountability Court (AC) has no jurisdiction to summon six foreign accused in Cotecna Reference filed by National Accountability Bureau (NAB), says a report submitted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a court here on Monday. President Asif Ali Zardari is also one of the main accused in the said Reference but the criminal proceedings could not be initiated against him since he enjoys immunity under article 184-A of the Constitution and therefore, no action is being taken against him. Earlier, the AC No 3 directed Additional Prosecutor General (APG) NAB, Malik Jamil Awan to inform the court after getting details from Foreign Ministry about the execution of summons of the foreign accused. Sources informed TheNation that the Foreign Ministry had written to the Ministry of Law and Justice, seeking its opinion that how the court summons could be executed. In response, the Ministry of Law and Justice gave its opinion, saying that court had no jurisdiction to summon the foreign accused under the law. According to details, APG Malik Muhammad Jamil Awan along with prosecutor Chaudhary Riaz presented before the court of Syed Najam-ul-Hassan and submitted the report. The report, submitted by the Foreign Ministry and prepared by the Ministry of Law and Justice, stated that the court could not summon six foreign accused, who were the Directors of an offshore company which was owned by President Asif Ali Zardari. The report further said that the court could not issue summons to the foreign accused under section 4 of Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and section 4 of National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) 1999. Therefore, it said, the summons should not be issued against him. However, the judge of AC No 3 observed that the court had already issued summons. At this, NAB prosecutor maintained that it was only a procedural order rather than a judicial order. Therefore, the court could rectify it. But the court directed them to present the judgment of court in that connection and adjourned the proceedings till August 11. Earlier, the same court had summoned six foreign accused in the Cotecna Reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and directed them to appear before the court. In the Cotecna Reference, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and her husband President Asif Ali Zardari were also accused of taking six percent of the total revenue of pre-shipment for awarding a contract to Cotecna. The Reference alleged that they had received $11.8m in kickbacks for $131m contract to supervise Pakistans customs service. The commission was paid to an offshore company allegedly owned by Asif Ali Zardari. Nusrat Bhutto and AR Siddiqui were co-accused in the case. However, Benazir Bhuttos name was deleted from the case after her assassination in December 27, 2007. In the same Reference, the judge had also summoned Nusrat Bhutto to appear before the court but the Chief Justice of Pakistan took suo moto notice of the issuing of summons and halted the court from issuing summons against her.