Accountability Court acquits Asif Zardari in SGS, Cotecna references

ISLAMABAD: An Accountability Court on Tuesday acquitted former president and Pakistan People’s Party Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari in SGS and Cotecna references.

Accountability court judge, Muhammad Bashir had reserved verdict on November 11, in two corruption references against the former president.
Asif Ali Zardari had filed acquittal applications in the two pending corruption references, SGS and Cotecna, against him.

The name of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto was removed from the references after her assassination while another accused former CBR Chairman A.R Siddiqui was acquitted over lack of evidences.

Zardari had been facing five corruption references filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) in 1997-98. He got a clean chit in three while two corruption references, pertaining to the award of pre-shipment contracts, namely SGS and Contecna were still pending.

It was on November 26, 2013, when the AC Islamabad had reopened the references pending against Zardari after the expiry of his presidential immunity.

Earlier, the court had rejected the acquittal pleas, but the petitioner then filed applications for re-hearing, which were accepted.