Lahore High Court, after accepting the appeal of Asif Ali Zardari and Benazir Bhutto for regular hearing, has issued stay order against the judgement of Accountability Court No 4 of Rawalpindi and ordered all concerned not to implement on the Accountability Court orders.
Counsel of former senator and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) leader Asif Ali Zardari, Dr Baber Awan and Farooq A Naek filed the appeal in Lahore High Court here on Monday. The division bench of the Lahore High Court, Rawalpindi bench, consisting of Justice Muhammad Shabir Akhtar and Justice Muhammad Jahangir, has accepted the appeal and issued the stay order. The LHC asked the Accountability Court to submit reply to its judgement on assets reference of Asif Zardari.
The counsel of Zardari pleaded before the court that Asif Ali Zardari had moved out of the country on the court orders and was undergoing treatment in United States.
They stated that the judgement of the Accountability Court was not based on merit and was against the nature of justice.
They pleaded before the august court that the implementation of the judgement should be stopped and decision should be reviewed. After hearing the arguments of Asif Zardari's counsel, the LHC issued stay order against the judgement and accepted the appeal for hearing.
The Accountability Court No 4 has ordered freezing of assets and bank accounts of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and her espouse Asif Ali Zardari all over the world, which, according to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), amounted to 1.5 billion dollars.