Pak govt. says `time-barred` Swiss cases against Zardari can’t be reopened

Islamabad  – Attorney General of Pakistan (AGP) Muneer A Malik has said that Swiss cases against former president Asif Ali Zardari could not be reopened over being `time-barred`.

The response came to an inquiry by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court on whether the federal government had filed an appeal regarding the reopening of Swiss cases against Zardari.

A three-judge bench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, held a hearing on non-implementation of its judgement in the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) case.

However, the court said that not reopening the NRO case in Switzerland is a violation of its judgement, the Daily Times reports.

The AGP told the SC that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had constituted a two-member inquiry committee in July to investigate the missing record and documents regarding writing of a letter to the Swiss authorities for closure of graft cases against Zardari.

The committee found that the former law secretary Justice (retried)Yasmin Abbasey was directly responsible for hushing up the Swiss cases against Zardari, he added.

The court asked the AGP the reason behind the government’s weakness and reliance on the apex court for action against former law secretary.