ISLAMABAD: An accountability court on Monday indicted former president Asif Ali Zardari in the Park Lane reference via video link.
Judge Muhammad Azam Khan heard the reference.
Asif Zardari's counsel, Farooq H Naek, prayed before the court that the Park Lane reference did not fall under the jurisdiction of the NAB as it was a case of "financial law".
Asif Zardari appeared before the court through a video link from Bilawal House, Karachi. He pleaded not guilty and the trial would now continue.
Zardari maintained that his lawyers were at the Supreme Court, and he could not be indicted in the absence of his lawyers. However, the court dismissed the request, and remarked that Asif Zardari would be indicted regardless, and his lawyers would simply be marked absent if they did not appear before the court. According to the indictment, Zardari influenced the relevant authorities during his tenure as president to release loans to front companies.
He was accused of being a director of the Park Lane Company, and planning to commit fraud. The former president allegedly got his front company, Parthenon Private Limited, a loan of Rs1.5 billion with ill intention, and the money was then transferred for his personal use through fake accounts.
The Park Lane case is being investigated under different sections of the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO), 1999, and the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2010, over Zardari's alleged involvement in extending loan and its misappropriation by Parthenon Private Limited. The National Accountability Bureau has accused the former president of causing the national exchequer a loss of Rs3.77 billion through fake bank accounts. In the 13-page-long NAB reference against Zardari and other accused, the anti-graft watchdog alleges that the accused created benami properties through Park Lane Company using Parthenon Private Limited as the front company. Using the money acquired through loans, eight floors were constructed at the IBC Centre. Initially, a loan of Rs1.5 billion was taken that gradually increased to Rs4 billion. Former executive director of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) Javed and two former presidents of the National Bank of Pakistan are listed as witnesses against Zardari in this reference. Other accused in the case, namely, Omni Group chief Anwar Majeed, Sher Ali, Farooq Abdullah, Saleem Faisal and Muhammad Hanif, were also indicted during the hearing.
All of the accused, including the former president, and Anwar Majeed, maintained innocence and pleaded not guilty before the court.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2020
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