While the news of President Musharraf's resignation and Asif Zardari's nomination for president occupy the big headlines, the renewed reports of the continuing Swiss probe into corruption allegations against Zardari are also vying for attention in the same week.
Swiss Judge Daniel Devaud has "confirmed to NEWSWEEK that the prosecutor's office was still investigating "aggravated" money-laundering offenses. Likewise, Jacques Python, a Geneva lawyer hired by Pakistan to work with Swiss authorities on the corruption case, said he had every reason to believe that the Geneva prosecutor's investigation was still open. And Alec Reymond, a lawyer who had represented Bhutto in connection with the Swiss investigation, also says the case is still open."
In 1997, after Zardari had been imprisoned on suspicion of corruption, Judge Devaud found that Bhutto herself had purchased a necklace worth 117,000 British pounds from a London jeweler—using cash and a bank transfer from the account of Bomer Finance, a British Virgin Islands company, which the magistrate said was jointly controlled by Bhutto and Zardari. (Her supporters claimed this allegation was based on trumped-up evidence supplied by her political enemies. Bhutto herself reportedly claimed her husband had bought the necklace but never told her about it). In 2003, Bhutto was convicted of money laundering in Switzerland and filed an appeal of her conviction by Swiss Court.
According to Newsweek's Mark Hosenball and Michael Isikoff, Judge Devaud's investigations in 2003 resulted in a series of court orders against Bhutto, Zardari and one of their Swiss lawyers, Jens Schlegelmilch. The orders, akin to misdemeanor guilty findings by a U.S. justice of the peace, were issued by the Swiss judge, an investigating magistrate in Geneva who has handled many high-profile investigations into the alleged laundering of corrupt payments through Switzerland by foreign politicians. The full text of Devaud's orders can be read at a NAB site here.
As to the outcome of the Swiss prosecution, some legal experts believe that Swiss prosecutors have three possible courses of action: close the case entirely, prosecute it by bringing it into a superior court or arrange the Swiss version of a plea bargain, in which money seized by Swiss authorities during the investigation probably would be confiscated or handed over to charity, but charges would be settled without any prison sentences.
In June 2008, a senior PPP leader and president of Pakistan's Supreme Court Bar Association, Mr. Aitzaz Ahsan, who was interior minister in Benazir Bhutto's first government, told James Traub of the New York Times that most of the corruption and criminal cases against PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari which were dropped recently in Pakistan were justified, and that the PPP was a feudal political party led by a figure (Zardari) accused of corruption and violence. After a moment's reflection, Ahsan further added, “The type of expenses that she had and he has are not from sources of income that can be lawfully explained and accounted for.”
The charges of corruption will likely haunt Zardari for the rest of his life. The way for him to leave a better legacy is by renouncing the amnesty he received from President Musharraf and by offering to go through a fair trial to clear his name.
Related Links:
Bhutto Convicted of Money Laundering by Swiss Court
House of Graft by New York Times
Can the West Help End Corruption in Developing Nations? on Haq's Musings
Bhutto's New York Apartment , A Luxurious East Side Penthouse
Bhutto-Zardari Front Company in Virgin Island
Asif Zardari wikipedia entry
Financial Times on Zardari's mental health
Is Zardari Guilty? on PakAlumni Worldwide
Inside ATP: Who Reads Pakistaniat.com
10 hours ago
7 comments:
What my hope is for a Zardari Presidency is the fact that he will use his connections, assets and network to build up Pakistan.
Zardari's Assets alone for the development of the nation can speed up the process by creating energy plants, etc. Pakistanis are very merciful people in general. It is the Military which is unforgiving and some political stake holders.
Your points are well observed and taken! I wish that justice could be done, but Switzerland is a developed nation with a strong legal system, yet it can't fight International corruption. We all wish for a better Pakistan.
Munzir Naqvi writes:
"Pakistanis are very merciful people in general."
I do not know which Pakistanis you are referring to but you have no clue of the reality. Please educate yourself a little more before making silly statements.
What I do read in your comments is acceptance to corrupt leaders and lack of knowledge period of the reality in Pakistan.
Please explain this story by Reuters is the case closed or shelved as the Zardari's lawyer Saverio Lembo welcomed Zappelli's decision to shelve the ...
https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=5848640164815342479&postID=2760975102938635836
Here's an interesting commentary on Zardari that I just received via email:
The sheaf of documents - from specialists ranging from a Dubai cardiologist to a New York psychiatrist - remains, however, and paints a picture of a man with multiple and severe physical and mental health problems.
In March last year, Stephen Reich, a New York state-based psychologist, diagnosed HIM with dementia, major depressive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder, problems stemming in part from being tortured while imprisoned in Pakistan. He could remember neither the birthdays of his wife and children, nor more than a handful of facts from two short stories he was read.
Another March 2007 diagnosis - by Philip Saltiel, a New York City-based psychiatrist - said emotional and neurological problems suffered by HIM because of medical treatment and imprisonment had resulted in "emotional instability" and "deficits in memory and concentration". Saltiel wrote: "I do not foresee any improvement in these issues for at least a year."
Reich re-examined HIM in June and September last year, each time reporting that he had made progress but still had problems that might make it impossible for him to testify in court.
Asif Ali Zardari (HIM)said that agreements with PML-N "are not holy like the holy Quran and the Hadith" and can be modified if circumstances change.
Riaz,
The bottom line is that Zardari is not a man of his word. It has nothing to do with the Quran or Hadith, this is a character issue and that Zardari lacks.
Taking things into perspective, we do not know the reality of the influence of the American channels (ref to emails from the US Ambassador to the UN and Zardari) that are negotiating for Zardari to take power.
Latest reports indicate the Swiss government has dropped all corruption charges against Zardari after Pak government refused to press charges pursuant to the NRO (amnesty granted by Musharraf). According to media reports from Pakistan, the PML-N Quaid Nawaz Sharif congratulated Zardari on the closure of the Swiss case. Ironically, the corruption charges against Zardari were initiated by Nawaz Sharif government in 1997. Both the leaders spoke to each other twice on telephone in last two days and discussed possibilities for the revival of their friendly relations.
The more things change, the more they remain the same, at least as far as accountability in Pakistan is concerned.
Zardari must be hanged in the street against these corruption
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