IHC dismisses NAB appeals against Asif Zardari’s acquittal in four corruption cases

ISLAMABAD – PPP Co-Chairperson Asif Ali Zardari was cleared on Thursday in over two-decade old corruption cases as the Islamabad High Court (IHC) allowed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to withdraw its petitions against acquittal of the former president in the graft references.

A two-member bench of the IHC headed by Chief Justice Athar Minallah announced the ruling while hearing the NAB plea seeking dismissal of its appeals against Zardari.

The anti-graft watchdog had approached the high court against an accountability court’s decision to acquit the 67-year-old politician in the SGS, Cotecna, Ursus Tractors, and ARY Gold References.

The IHC chief justice announced the verdict after NAB’s Additional Prosecutor General Jahanzeb Khan Bharwana told the court that further prosecution on the appeals could not be carried out due to lack of evidence.

ARY Gold reference and Ursus Tractors cases were registered in the years 2000 and 2001, respectively. However, the court acquitted him in December 2014. This case was initially created in 1998.

The former president also got clean chit from the accountability court in the Cotecna and SGS reference on November 24, 2015.

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