By Shakeel Ahmed
ISLAMABAD: An accountability court in Islamabad Monday indicted former president and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Asif Ali Zardari in the Park Lane estate reference through video link.
Zardari, who had joined the hearing though videolink from Bilawal House in Karachi, pleaded not guilty. He informed the court that his counsel, Farooq H. Naek, was at the Supreme Court and he cannot be indicted in his absence.
However, dismissing his stance, the court ordered for Zardari to be indicted and marked his legal team absent. Other accused in the case including Omni Group chief Anwar Majeed were also indicted. All the accused pleaded not guilty. Zardari has been facing trial for being involved in obtaining loans and its misappropriation by M/s Parthenon Private Limited, M/s Park Lane Estate Private Limited and others.
His counsel earlier argued before the court that Zardari was a director of M/s Park Lane, but he resigned from the company in 2008 before assuming the office of president of Pakistan in 2008. He said the board of directors of the company accepted the resignation of Zardari though it could not communicate the matter to the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) in time.
