Another corruption case against Benazir Bhutto

ISLAMABAD, Oct 21: Former Pakistani premier Benazir Bhutto has been chargesheeted in another corruption case involving illegal appointmen...

ISLAMABAD, Oct 21: Former Pakistani premier Benazir Bhutto has been chargesheeted in another corruption case involving illegal appointments in the country’s international airlines.

The special accountability bench of the Sindh High Court, yesterday framed charges against Benazir, her former political secretary Naheed Khan and Air Marshal (Retd) Farooq Umar, the former managing director of Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), for making "illegal" appointments of more than 1,300 people in PIA.

The charges framed by Justice Ghaus Mohammad said that all the accused including Benazir "acting in collusion, connivance with each other and in pursuance of common intention with malafide, illegal and dishonest intention conjoined committed offences" punishable under the Pakistan Penal Code.The case, which had been prepared by the Special Accountability Bureau of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s office alleged that the "illegal appointments" were made in PIA during her government without following the properprocedure and that more than 12,000 candidates, who had been called for the written test for the various posts in PIA, were completely ignored.

Meanwhile, Bhutto has moved to the Supreme Court for transferring one of the corruption cases against her from Lahore High Court to Sindh High Court alleging that one of the judges may be having personal grievance against her.

This was the third corruption case in which charges have been framed against Bhutto, whose government was dismissed in November 1996 amidst corruption charges and deteriorating law and order situation leading to Nawaz Sharif coming back to power.