Swiss cases against Zardari cannot be reopened, NAB informs SC

ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau on Wednesday informed the Supreme Court that the Swiss cases against former premier Asif Zardari cannot be reopened due to them being time-barred.

A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Mian Saqib Nisar heard the case related to the National Reconciliation Ordinance, passed by former military ruler Pervez Musharraf.

NAB in its response to the apex court stated that the Swiss authorities have said the cases are out of date and have refused to reopen them.

SC seeks foreign account details of Musharraf, Zardari in NRO case

NRO was passed by Musharraf in 2007, it granted amnesty to politicians and other individuals by quashing various corruption and criminal cases against them

The bureau also said it is investigating the damage done to national exchequer due to NRO.

In yesterday’s hearing, the apex court ordered Zardari, Musharraf and former attorney general Justice (retd) Malik Qayyum to submit the details of their foreign bank accounts.

The case

The NRO, passed by Musharraf in 2007, granted amnesty to politicians and other individuals by quashing various corruption and criminal cases against them so they could return to the country and engage in the democratic process.

Nominating Musharraf, Zardari and Qayyum as respondents, petitioner Feroz Shah Gilani had requested the court in April to order recovery of ‘huge amounts of public money’ misappropriated and wasted by them through unlawful means ‘already on record in different judgments of the Supreme Court and high court’.

He had contended that Musharraf subverted the Constitution by declaring emergency followed by the promulgation of the NRO, through which criminal and corruption cases against politicians, including Zardari, were ‘arbitrarily withdrawn’