Pak court indicts former President Zardari, his sister in money laundering case

Islamabad, September 28

An anti-corruption court docket in Pakistan on Monday indicted former President Asif Ali Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur in a cash laundering case, a transfer described by his celebration as “victimisation” of opposition leaders.

The growth comes simply forward of the deliberate protests subsequent month by Opposition events to demand the resignation of Prime Minister Imran Khan.

The case is concerning the alleged use of pretend accounts by the previous president and different accused to park and launder the allegedly ill-gotten wealth.

The 63-year-old husband of the nation’s first girl prime minister Benazir Bhutto and his 62-year-old sister Talpur have been current within the court docket.

Judge Muhammad Azam Khan of the accountability court docket in Islamabad indicted them.

The court docket additionally indicted Omni Group Chairman Anwar Majeed and his son, Abdul Ghani Majeed.

All the accused pleaded not responsible to the costs in opposition to them.

Reacting to the event, Pakistan People’s Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari mentioned “political victimisation of the opposition continues during a global pandemic”.

He mentioned Zardari and Talpur have been showing in court docket for the previous two years.

“Runaway dictator traitor, three special assistants, ministers and the premier’s sister won’t be summoned because we have two laws in Pakistan,” he mentioned in a tweet.

The court docket, nevertheless, postponed Zardari’s indictment within the Park Lane reference till October 5.

The court docket additionally adjourned the listening to of the mega cash laundering case till October 13 and directed three witnesses to seem earlier than it on the subsequent listening to.

Separately, the previous president challenged the cash laundering and the Park Lane instances within the Islamabad High Court. He argued within the attraction that the instances could also be quashed as he was harmless.

The attraction was filed in opposition to the accountability court docket judgment of final week through which it rejected Zardari’s plea to quash three instances linked with the faux financial institution accounts case.

The mega cash laundering scandal surfaced in 2018 and a number of probes linked with the case have been launched.

Zardari and Talpur have been arrested final 12 months and stored in custody for months earlier than being launched on bail in December.

He maintains that the allegation was a part of a vilification marketing campaign by Imran Khan-led ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) celebration to malign the Opposition leaders. PTI