Staff Report
ISLAMABAD: The Accountability Courts (AC) on Wednesday sent back the two references to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against former president Asif Ali Zardari pertaining suspicious transaction worth Rs 8 billion and toshakhana.
AC-I Judge Muhammad Bashir heard the petition challenging the maintainability of suspicious transaction reference against Asif Ali Zardari after the amendments in NAB law. Zardari’s lawyer Farooq H. Naek and NAB prosecutor Sohail Arif appeared before the court.
Giving arguments during the hearing, Naek said that Asif Zardari had nothing to do with the reference.
After the amendments in the NAB ordinance, the accountability court had no jurisdiction to hear this case.
He prayed the court to give decision on the application as per the law.
After listening the arguments, the court returned the reference and instructed to file the case to the relevant forum. The NAB had filed the reference pertaining suspicious transaction worth Rs 8 billions last year.
The court also returned the Toshakhana reference against Asif Ali Zardari, PML-N’s Leader Nawaz Sharif and former prime minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani.
The court said that after the amendment in the NAB Ordinance, a case of an amount less than Rs500 million couldn’t be registered.
