NEWS JUNKIE POST
Mar 31, 2010 at 10:54 amPakistan: Supreme Court Pushes To Reopen Zardari’s Corruption Case
Pakistani anti-corruption officials have asked Switzerland to reopen a corruption case against their own President, Asif Ali Zardari. Zardari and his late wife, Benazir Bhutto, were convicted in Geneva for laundering 13 million dollars which they allegedly received in bribes in 2003. The verdict was thrown out after an appeal, but Pakistan Chief Justice Chaudhry wants the case reopen and thinks that Zardari should not enjoy his immunity status as Pakistan current president.
Another 158 corruption cases have been reactivated after Pakistan Supreme Court’s decision last year to dismiss the National Reconciliation Order (NRO) as unconstitutional. The NRO, an executive order, was brought in by former president Musharraf in 2007, when he was under US pressure to hold elections and quit his post. In the view of many Pakistanis, the real goal of the National Reconciliation Order was to make a political come back possible for Benazir Bhutto.
“The background is that the United States, together with President Musharraf, had a deal to bring back Benazir Bhutto, and Benazir pleaded that there should be a reconciliation process- that is why the National Reconciliation Order came about- so all the cases against her were squashed and she would be free to come back, take part in politics and maybe become prime minister,” commented Mariana Baber in the Pakistani daily The News.
The Pakistani Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice Muhammad Chaudhry, is ordering the chairman of the National Accountability Bureau, Naveed Ahsen, to implement the court’s verdict on the National Reconciliation Order by today.
“It was indeed a day of reckoning for many of the mightiest of the land. The first victim of an enraged Supreme Court, angry because its National Reconciliation Order judgment was not being implemented, went to jail on Tuesday and a 24-hour ultimatum was given to others to implement the court verdict, including writing the letter for reopening the Swiss cases against President Zardari,” wrote Sohail Khan in the Pakistani daily The News today.
President Zardari has already served 8 years in jail for corruption, but Zardari, however, has immunity from prosecution while president. But some analysts think that Chief Justice Chaudhry may try to scrap the presidential immunity by invoking Islamic precedents.
Chaudhry, in one of his previous ruling, has said that the Supreme Court does not agree that the president has immunity from wrongdoings while in office. Chaudhry refers to Islamic laws when even the Prophets, the Prophets of Islam, were “dragged to court and had to answer before the judges”.
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There has been a practice over the years in Pakistan that ruling elites get involved in corruption practices with complete immunity. Among Pakistan helpless people (65% population of which is illiterate) corruption and plundering of the country by ruling elites is accepted their birth right. Previous attempts to curb corruption in the highest tear of the government were failed and those who initiated found themselves in big trouble.
However over the current decade with the start of several private TV channels media has got much stronger which probably gave heart to our judiciary to take on the mightiest ones head on.
Like me at least 90% of Pakistan people believe our politicians and bureaucracy is extremely corrupt. They steal billions of dollars of public money each year. They have palatial mansions and lead life of royals.
For example President Zardari’s assents declared before the court recently topped US$ 1.8 billion while having no matching source of income.
With the recent judicial uproar over anything remotely close to the NRO and its PPP beneficiaries, the hoopla being created over the re-opening of President Zardari’s infamous Swiss cases is not really all that surprising. However, what is astonishing is the apparent disregard for what accounts as respect for international law, practices and procedures. Public prosecutor of the Swiss canton in Geneva, Daniel Zappelli, has categorically stated that it is impossible for Swiss courts to try Mr Zardari as he enjoys presidential immunity under article 248 of the constitution and also because a lack of credible evidence via the witnesses exists to corroborate the alleged corruption. Now the SC, armed with a null and void NRO verdict is asking the Swiss to recall their decision. Further discrepancies show how ill-tuned all government functionaries are as conflicting statements are now being issued from the law ministry and NAB officials who have been seen desperately trying to tie up loose ends under the threat of contempt from the courts. The way the issue of accountability is being handled at the moment makes it seem to be more about the hype than the actual problem. If accountability is to be politically selective — as is evident by the persecution of the PPP leadership — it should at least be done bearing in mind the complexities of international boundaries and legal structures. Swiss courts, unlike ours, are French and not British in set-up. Therefore, the Swiss method of delivering justice cannot be taken for granted as something we can easily manoeuvre at a whim, and their considerations and claims must be taken seriously as well.