ISLAMABAD: An application to halt criminal charges against President Asif Ali Zardari has received approval from the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).
President Zardari is protected by the constitution, according to the NAB prosecution in a written response to the accountability court in the Toshakhana vehicle case. Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was exonerated in the case earlier last week by the NAB.
The reference claims that President Zardari and Mr. Sharif merely paid 15% of the price to acquire luxury cars from Toshakhana.
The NAB claimed that Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani, the current Senate chairman and the former prime minister, “dishonestly” and “illegally” eased the process for accepting and disposing of presents through a 2007 cabinet division letter, hence facilitating the allocation of the cars to Mr. Zardari and Mr. Sharif.
In the report, the NAB prosecution said that the car in question was sent as a gift by the Saudi Arabian government to former Prime Minister Nawaz, who subsequently had it parked in Toshakhana.
Later on, the car was added to the federal transport pool, it was stated. According to the NAB investigation, in 2008, Prime Minister Gilani made the offer to Nawaz to purchase the car, which he did, using the federal transport pool rather than the Toshakhana.
The statement read, “This case may attract any other offence but has no relevance with the benefit of Toshakhana as the subject vehicle was part of the federal transport pool when it was purchased instead of being part of Toshakhana.”
It reiterated that when Mr. Sharif purchased the car, it was not among the Toshakhana goods and claimed that he had not paid for it using a fictitious bank account.
According to Article 248 of the constitution, President Zardari is immune from prosecution.
On behalf of Mr. Zardari, the application was submitted by attorney Farooq H. Naek.
It asserted presidential immunity with regard to Park Lane estate, Thatta water supplies, Toshakhana vehicles, and references to fictitious bank accounts.
According to Article 248(1) of the Constitution, no court shall have jurisdiction over the President, Governor, Prime Minister, Federal Minister, Minister of State, Chief Minister, or Provincial Minister with respect to the exercise of their respective offices’ powers or the performance of any act carried out, or purported to be carried out, in the course of those functions.
As per Article 248(2), it is prohibited to initiate or prosecute any criminal proceedings against the president or a governor while they are in office.
“No process for the arrest or imprisonment of the president or a governor shall issue from any court during his term of office,” states Article 248(3).
NAB had charged Mr. Zardari in the Park Lane case with “parthenon private limited, park lane estate private limited, and others extending loan and their misappropriation.” According to NAB, Park Lane Company obtained a loan from a joint venture between Summit Bank and the National Bank of Pakistan for Rs1.5 billion, which was later extended to Rs2.8 billion. Later on, the business fell behind on this sum.
The Thatta Water Supply Reference claimed that the defendants had given several contracts to private contractors in violation of the law.
Among the defendants are Mr. Zardari, Ijaz Khan, Hassan Ally Memon, the chairman of the committee in charge of purchases connected to the water supply program, Khawaja Abdul Ghani Majeed, CEO of Omni Group, Menahel Majeed, and nine other individuals.
The accountability court in Islamabad has moved the case involving the fraudulent bank accounts to the banking court in Karachi.
The charges against Mr. Zardari, his sister Faryal Talpur, and other individuals concern creating fictitious bank accounts and carrying out illicit transactions totaling billions of rupees.
