Rawalpindi: Judge of accountability court in Rawalpindi today expressed outrage over non-appearance of prosecutor’s witnesses in illicit assets reference case, against former president Asif Ali Zardari.
The proceeding of the case was held by judge Khalid Mahmood Ranjha in accountability court, in which the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) counsel was unable to present witnesses, raging the judge. Due to unavailability of the witnesses, the statements were not recorded into the matter.
Justice Khalid strictly directed to ensure the presence of witnesses in next hearing and adjourned the hearing till October 28. According to the allegations, Zardari illegally made assets in 1990s when his wife Benazir Bhutto was the Prime Minister and he deposited the money from kickbacks in different Swiss banks.
Earlier, accountability court on December 12, 2014 had acquitted Asif Ali Zardari in two corruption references Ursus Tractors and the ARY gold import, under the legal section 265-K of Criminal Procedure Code which authorizes the concerning judge to set free an accused, if he finds insufficient evidence against him.
Additional deputy prosecutor general of NAB Chaudhry Riaz informed the Islamabad High Court (IHC) that during the trial of Zardari’s accomplice the authority did not put any evidence against former president as he was enjoying exemption under Article 248 of Pakistan’s constitution.
