Jurist Former Pakistan president arrested on corruption charges

[Dadparvar]

Pakistan’s National Accountability Bureau arrested Co-Chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party and former president Asif Ali Zardari Monday following an Islamabad High Court ruling rejecting his bail petition.

Zardari is accused of creating and feeding money into fake bank accounts in a corruption scandal involving a number of Pakistani companies and other individuals. Prior to the Monday decision, Zardari and his sister, Faryal Talpur, also accused, had their bail extended many times.

Zardari’s counsel had argued that there was no direct link to the fake accounts and Zardari, since the accounts were opened by another company, Omni Group, not the Zardari group.

The Pakistan Peoples Party, supporting Zardari, described Zardari’s willingness to surrender himself to custody, “as a mark of protest against the unjust and unfair treatment being meted out to him here on Monday.”

Members of Zardari’s party and family have criticized the ruling and the case against Zardari as entirely politically motivated and without merit.

Zardari’s daughter, Aseefa Zardari, posted on Twitter:

This cowardly selected government thinks throwing opposition into jail will legitimise it. No case, no conviction, no plausible cause. Arresting [Asif Ali Zardari] will not silence the voice of truth. He was vindicated before and he will be vindicated again. … Curious how Federal Ministers knew about the arrest days and months before the court’s decision. How arrest warrants were issued before bail was cancelled. Mockery of justice.

The New York Times reports that Sherry Rehman, a Pakistani Senator from Zardari’s Party, stated that “[a]rresting President Zardari during an investigative stage when he has been appearing respectfully before every court and N.A.B. office at every hearing smacks of political vendetta.”

The post Former Pakistan president arrested on corruption charges appeared first on JURIST - News - Legal News & Commentary.

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