Pakistani PM charged with contempt

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
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Re: Pakistani PM charged with contempt

Gilani should resigns before 3 pm to get maximum TRPs. Because after that, everyone will switch over to Pak vs Eng

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Re: Pakistani PM charged with contempt

May be they are innocent.. let them face they law and get themselves acquitted following the due course of law. Why they have to hide behind immunity and NRO. If the prosecution did not act lawfully in the past does not automatically imply they they are innocent. The same Nawaz Sharif pet judge acting as Attorney General for the Musharraf regime wrote an unlawful letter to the Swiss authorities to withdraw the cases against Zardari for which he was already convicted withdrawing all the evidence.

Key letters in Swiss cases reveal hidden facts

ISLAMABAD: The crown jewels in the heaps of files and documents in the Swiss cases - the May 22, 2008 Malik Qayyum letter to the Swiss Attorney General, which has become a noose around the government and the December 9, 2009 NAB chairman’s letter given to the Supreme Court - have now become available to The News. The letters reveal that the Supreme Court has been misled and misinformed by government lawyers as the contents of the letters raise many questions, which have not been answered by either Barrister Aitzaz Ahsan or any other government lawyer.

The December 9 key document, signed by the NAB Prosecutor General Accountability, Dr Danishwar Malik, who collected the 12 secret boxes of evidence in Geneva in the presence of Pakistan High Commissioner in London Wajid Shamsul Hasan, duly recorded by a Geo TV camera, reveals even more startling facts which have not been mentioned or have been ignored by the lawyers arguing for the government in the Supreme Court.

Both these documents firmly establish: 1. That the Swiss Attorney General ordered on 22-12-2003 to reopen investigations and to proceed with additional indictment; 2. That a Swiss Judge sent the case for further trial to Court of Appeal on 29-10-2007; 3. That the Swiss court of appeals confirmed the order of the Swiss Judge on 19-3-2008; 4. The Swiss Judge ordered closing the cases on 09-4-2008 and 5. The Attorney General of Pakistan wrote on 22-5-2008 withdrawing the cases.

It may be recalled that during the hearing of the NRO case in December 2009, the Supreme Court had ordered NAB to furnish all the record pertaining to all overseas corruption cases including the Swiss money laundering cases, which were closed because of the NRO deal.

This big file had the key covering letter dated 14-12-2009 and signed by Dr Danishwar Malik, narrating all the events regarding corruption and money laundering cases in Switzerland. This covering letter, though written by NAB controlled by the law ministry, used some misleading words but even then the facts were very clear and showed how the court of investigation magistrate, on October 29, 2007, declared the evidence available as sufficient for a trial. It also showed that the Swiss court of appeals had rejected the appeals of President Zardari against his conviction on March 19, 2008. But mysteriously this covering letter did not mention the first visit of Malik Qayyum to Geneva in the first week of April 2008, immediately after which the process of closure of all corruption cases was initiated. This hidden fact was revealed in the letter Malik Qayyum wrote later to the Swiss Attorney General on May 22, 2008. It clearly shows Malik Qayyum’s first visit to Geneva and refers to a meeting on April 7, 2008 in its very first line. After this first visit in which all the evidence submitted by the state of Pakistan were taken back/withdrawn, the court closed the investigations.

Later, Malik Qayyum wrote a letter on May 22, 2008 for the formal withdrawal request of mutual legal assistance and surrendering status of state of Pakistan as ‘civil party’ and claimant on the plundered money. Subsequently, all the cases were dropped on August 25, 2008. The two letters simply contradict Aitzaz Ahsan’s argument that cases were closed not only because of the letter of Malik Qayyum but were closed on merit because of lack of evidence.

Just a few weeks before the closure of the cases on April 9, 2008, the same court has not only announced conviction of the accused but the Swiss court of appeals has upheld the conviction. Later, when Pakistan withdrew the evidence, the Swiss authorities rightfully closed the cases, as there was no evidence and no claimant party.

Legal experts say if the SC forces the Attorney General to write a letter to the Swiss authorities, the situation will go back to April 7, 2008 and proceedings could start from where they were left.

It is important to mention here that conviction in money laundering case in Switzerland was announced on October 29, 2007, only 24 days “after” the promulgation of the notorious NRO, and the conviction by the Swiss court of appeals on March 19, 2008 took place only 6 days before Prime Minister Gilani took oath of his office.

While this is the factual documented position of the cases and how and why they were dropped by the Swiss authorities, the only other argument of Aitzaz Ahsan that Prime Minister Gilani has in fact acted on the advice of the then law secretary Justice (R) Aqil Mirza and former Attorney General Anwar Mansoor Khan, has already been rejected by the eight-member bench of the Supreme Court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry. Both these persons have contradicted having submitted any such advice as Aitzaz has claimed in his arguments. Justice (R) Aqil dissociated himself from the advice on the day it was submitted in the apex court under his name and resigned and Anwar Mansoor Khan, who also resigned, has recently said in an interview that Aitzaz Ahsan has misquoted him.

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Re: Pakistani PM charged with contempt

So, if Zardari is innocent, then just write the letter and finish the story.

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Well Zardari was convicted by the Swiss Courts. So he was guilty of money laundering and fraud.

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Re: Pakistani PM charged with contempt

Ha??? cannot buy judges in Switzerland?

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Re: Pakistani PM charged with contempt

Chronology

1988: Benazir Bhutto elected Prime Minister of Pakistan, the first woman to lead a Muslim country.

1990: Bhutto was dismissed by President Khan on allegations of corruption and misrule.

1993: Bhutto became Prime Minister for a second time.

1996, July: Bhutto appointed Asif Ali Zardari as Minister of Investment.

1996, November 5: Bhutto dismissed for the second time by President Laghari on allegations of gross corruption and misrule.

Corruption Allegations

Among them are the appointment of 26,000 party supporters to state jobs and state-owned banks during Bhutto’s term as Prime Minister, unsecured government loans to 50 large projects through which Bhutto and Zardari benefitted by having loans given to frontmen. In total, Zardari received £10 million in investment funds in three new sugar mills. Zardari received a kickback amounting to 40 million rupee on a contract involvng the Pakistan Steel Mill. 1

1994: Bhutto influenced the award the preshipment verification contract to a Swiss corporation Société Générale de-Surveillance (SGS) and its then subsidiary Cotecna in return for consultancy fees (kickbacks) of 6 percent and 3 percent to two Bhutto and Zardari controlled companies in British Virgin Island (BVI) under the names Bomer Finances Inc and Nassam Overseas Inc. Money paid to Swiss bank accounts linked to these companies amounted to $12 million. In the same year, it is also alleged that a commission of 7 percent was paid on importation of $83 million worth of tractors from Poland. Zardari’s Caribbean company, Dargal Associated received this payment, which was confirmed by Ursus Tractors of Poland. 2

1994: Zardari received bribes amounting to $10 million through a shell company Capricorn Trading from a businessman Razzak Yaqub trading under the name A.R.Y. International Exchange in exchange for an exclusive import license of gold into Pakistan. Yaqub shipped more than $ 500 million in gold to Pakistan over a period of three years, while Zardari benefitted through bribes paid into the Dubai and Swiss Citibank accounts, which were opened with the assistance of the Swiss lawyer Jens Schlegelmilch. In total Zardari received over $ 40 million. 3

1996: Bhutto and Zardari allegedly demanded a 5 percent ‘remuneration’ in $ 4 billion contract involving purchase of fighter jets, in which three French companies were involved, namely: Dassault Aviation, Snecma, and Thomson-CSF. The 5 percent was to be paid to Marleton Business S.A., one of Zardari’s British Virgin Island companies. The deal collapsed when Bhutto was deposed. 4

1997, October: Swiss government began a probe into Swiss involvement in Bhutto’s corrupt SGS/Cotecna deal, and moved to freeze $ 13.7mil USD in Swiss bank accounts owned by Bhutto, Zardari, and family. In August of 1998, a Swiss Magistrate wrote an opinion urging Pakistani authorities to indict Bhutto themselves using evidence gathered in Switzerland. In April of 1999, an Accountability Court in Lahore sentenced Bhutto and Zardari on corruption charges to five years in jail, $8.6mil USD in fines, and disqualified Bhutto from politics for twenty-one years.

Bhutto appealed this conviction to the Pakistani Supreme Court, which reversed the lower court ruling and remanded the case back to a different Accountability Court, deeming the initial sentence, “politically motivated.”

2003: In Switzerland an investigating magistrate judge found both Bhutto and Zardari guilty of aggravated money laundering in connection to the SGS/Cotecna probe. Bhutto’s attorneys appealed and had this conviction overturned on procedural grounds, because the investigating magistrate had not conducted a hearing in determining this verdict. Additional charges were raised by another Swiss magistrate in July of 2004, thereby reopening the case.

2003: The Swiss magistrate found that during her second term as Prime Minister Bhutto enriched herself and her husband with kickbacks from a government contract with two Swiss companies. 5

2007, October: President Musharaff granted blanket immunity for past corrupt actions, shielding many public officials and members of the government from prosecution. This applied to Bhutto and Zardari, though not to political opponent Nawar Sharif. Bhutto returned to Pakistan and subsequently re-entered into Pakistani politics.

A Lahore High Court chose to reserve judgment on the initial SGS/Cotecna case that had been remanded from the Supreme Court, fearing another Bhutto appeal on the grounds of political bias.

2007, December: Following the assassination of Bhutto’s in December of 2007, both the Pakistani and Swiss charges relating to the SGS/Cotecna case were dropped. Probes into Zardari’s actions in relation to this case are still ongoing. Altogether, it is believed that the government of Pakistan lost over US $ 2 billion in potential revenues because of Bhutto’s corruption.

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Re: Pakistani PM charged with contempt

^ kal bhi bhutto daku tha, aaj bhi bhutto daku hai?

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Re: Pakistani PM charged with contempt

Tu bhai agr innocent haiN aur yeh sab sazish hay tu phir DaR ka'hay ka? haath kangan ko aa'rsi kiya aur paRha likhay ko Farsi kiya?

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Re: Pakistani PM charged with contempt

^^^ allegation & conviction is not same...

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Re: Pakistani PM charged with contempt

Okay, it is only an allegation and he is innocent.

Get it over with then, write the letter :P

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Re: Pakistani PM charged with contempt

he is innocent, I wonder how his assets are increasing making him the second richest man in Pakistan...

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Re: Pakistani PM charged with contempt

The problem in Pakistan is partly due to the judicial system, plus the powerful are able to buy off (or scare off the witnesses) justice with the result terrorists and corrupt roam freely. Sadly Pakistan is the country where people having their loans worth billion written off roam freely and a person who defaults on a few thousands is imprisoned (because he is a culprit and the rich is innocent).

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Re: Pakistani PM charged with contempt

I read this funny headline yesterday.

" Mayn adalaton k hur faislay ka ahteram karta hoon " (lekin mayn khat nahi likhoon ga! ker lo jo kerna hai )

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Re: Pakistani PM charged with contempt

LMAO! That sounds like our politicians Seb.

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Re: Pakistani PM charged with contempt

Let's be honest - Gilani is nothing but a proxy for Zardari. Gilani will be replaced by someone who will behave exactly the same because they will also be a Zardari proxy.

I disagree with you on the legality of the situation. While there is no doubt that no sitting President can be accused of a crime in Pakistan. the Supreme Court is not asking for this. Instead they want the accusation to be made in a foreign country where the law does not exclude foreign Presidents from being accused.

Of course, this is a disgusting slope.... in what country does a court place foreign law above domestic law? Is the Supreme Court ruling that Pakistan's legal system is not good enough?

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Re: Pakistani PM charged with contempt

There are two options before the Supreme Court, shut the case saying we can't process the case since the foreign country where the implication of the case has to be unfolded is out of its jurisdiction, and the other is to discharge its own duty and let the foreign country take its own decision. This suits all as the SC will be able to discarge its duty lawfully, the executive will also end up obying the court order, leaving the final outcome to Swiss authorities. And even if Switzerland does not act on the letter sent by Islambad, SC, Gilani and Zardari will all be winners in that case.

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Re: Pakistani PM charged with contempt

What I don't understand is why Gilani did not write the letter and handle this in a way that would have followed the letter of the court's decision to the letter but not at all in spirit.

All he would have had to do is write a letter asking for the case to be reopened, and then write and an additional paragraph stating that this letter was being written under duress due a Supreme Court decision, and state that actually re-opening the case would be extremely harmful to Pak-Swiss relationships. Gilani could have also summoned the Swiss aambassador to demand that Switzerland does not act on the letter, and also have the Pakistani ambassador in Switzerland also convey the message to Switzerland's foreign ministry.

This could have avoided this entire drama.

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Re: Pakistani PM charged with contempt

It could have aggravated the situation further as the court has already said that it might examine the letter to ensure if it was written properly.

What the government should do is to just write the letter and if president does enjoy international immunity, than Switzerland will anyway not initiate any proceedings against him until he remains president. That's what the PPP wants and that's what Aitzaz Ahsan has also been saying all along.

Lastly, don't we know what Zardari wants to reap from the field of this case? PPP badly needs something for electioneering and a sacrificed PM will provided the required fodder for the next elections.

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Re: Pakistani PM charged with contempt

!!!!!
.....

And what I dont understand is that if PM didn't write letter in that case Attorney General can do it but they so crazy wana done it by PM OK so what if nxt PM don't do it?? Another case for new PM and story goes on !!!!!

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Re: Pakistani PM charged with contempt

:rotfl: