 Benazir Bhutto: Dogged by corruption charges |
A judge in Switzerland has found former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and her husband, Asif Zardari, guilty of money laundering.
Investigation Judge Daniel Devaud in Geneva sentenced them to a six-month suspended jail term, fined them $50,000 each and ordered they pay more than $2m to the Pakistani Government.
He said they had illegally deposited millions of dollars in accounts in Switzerland, and ordered the money be returned to Pakistan.
Ms Bhutto and Mr Zardari deny misappropriating the money, and are considering an appeal.
The BBC's Zaffar Abbas in Islamabad says the ruling will come as a blow to the former prime minister, who has always said that corruption cases against her in Pakistan were politically motivated.
The latest ruling is a more serious matter and may make it more difficult for her to defend her position, our correspondent says.
Appeal
The case relates to a 1998 indictment in which Benazir Bhutto was accused of having access to money obtained through kickbacks and commissions from two Swiss companies with contracts with the then Pakistani Government.
 | BENAZIR BHUTTO 1953 - born in Sindh 1979 - father executed 1990/96 - dismissed as Prime Minister 1999 - convicted for not appearing in court 2002 - barred from standing in general elections 2003 - found guilty of money laundering by Swiss judge |
Benazir Bhutto strongly denies having had access to the accounts and is considering whether to appeal against the ruling.
The couple's lawyer, Farooq Naek, described the order as "illogical, unreasonable, inconsistent with law, based on malafide [bad faith] and ... politically motivated."
He complained that the announcement had been made without notices having been served on either Ms Bhutto or Mr Zardari.
Ms Bhutto lives in self-imposed exile in London and the Middle East.
Asked whether the Swiss ruling could affect Ms Bhutto's permission to remain in the UK, a Home Office spokesman told BBC News Online that they do not comment on individual cases.
But they said: "A person holding an entry clearance can be refused entry to the United Kingdom if there has been a change of circumstances since the visa was issued."
Her husband is currently serving a jail term in Pakistan for corruption.
In a separate development, Mr Zardari was formally indicted on Tuesday for the murder of a chairman of state-owned Pakistan Steel, Sajjad Hussain, who was shot in 1998.
9 comments:
Why is Mr. Thinker not writing enough perhaps he is not finding time. We are all waiting to read.
Wow what a link. Finally Mr. Thinker is writing again. Keep it up.
Very good. NRO must be removed and the benefits must be reversed. The MNAs and MPAs have been dishonest in electing such a notorious character to the top job. Shame on them. Hopeless fellows.
Utha kar phenk do gali mein yeh chor jamhooriath ke ande hain gandey. Throw out the rotten eggs in the street these sham democracy eggs are rotten.
By enacting the Bush-dictated NRO, Gen. Musharraf has become an accessory to all the crimes committed by Benazir Bhutto, Asif Zardari, and PPP gang of thugs and robbers masquerading as MPAs, MNAs, and Senators.
Once the NRO is declared illegal, Musharraf - who for 8 years was aligned with another band of thieves like the Chaudries -- should stand trial alongside the PPP thugs.
The NRO was designed to create a "liberal alliance" where Musharraf would be president with Benazir as his Prime Minister. Such as facade would give the US the PR advantage of working with a "domcracy" in its "war on terror".
In norder to get her crimes whitewashed, Benazir promised to offer the International Atomic Energy Agency access to Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan to ’satisfy the international community’, an euphemism for the major powers; and to allow the US-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan to operate inside north-western Pakistan.
Not surprisingly all such terms are included in Kerry-Lugar, and drones kill at will.
These culprits of corruption are being punished by the laws of nature; if not by the courts of law, but they continue to commit their misdeeds.
True, their family members are being killed by the laws of nature governed by the system of Almighty Allah.
I have all along wondered what had happened to the media that was so vociferous against President Musharraf to keep quite on the misdeeds of the heads of such big political families of Pakistan. That YOu Tube link is amazing and what the guy said is all so true. How does the electorate miss it? The media does not seem honest to me. What are these guys Talat Hussain, Hamid Mir, Dr. Shahid Masood. They seem to have an agenda they are most certainly not journalists to ignore such conspiracy against the nation. If it is Pervez Musharraf they are ever ready to pounce on but let go such thief free. Shame on them.
Hang them and do not hesitate. If they cannot be clean they have no business to be governing us.
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