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Journalism of Courage
ISLAMABAD, DEC 6: The Pakistan government’s failure to substantiate the corruption charges against former premier Benazir Bhutto may prompt the Swiss authorities not only to reverse their decision to freeze her Swiss bank accounts but also entertain a defamation suit, according to media reports here.
A spokesman for the Swiss Federal Department of Police (FDP) said if the claims by the Nawaz Sharif government remained unsubstantiated, Benazir may file a suit, in which case Berne may ask Islamabad to pay any damages claimed, reports said.
“We believe the conditions for mutual legal assistance were met (by the Pakistan government) but if the claims remains unsubstantiated, it may be possible to ask the Pakistani government to pay the damages,” a local daily here quoted George Bomio, specialist for Mutual Assistance at the FDP, as saying.
The daily, in a despatch from Berne, also quoted Bomio as saying a total of 20 million Swiss francs (14 million US dollars) are lying in frozen accounts. This is far less than the nearly 80 million US dollars claimed by Senator Saifur Rehman, chairman of the anti-corruption `Accountability Cell’ at the Prime Minister’s office here.
The Swiss authorities, according to reports, were also confused by the investigations in Pakistan and said as per their understanding, the investigations were being done by the attorney general.
The Swiss authorities also said they had blocked accounts of Benazir and her family members following request from the Pakistani government but the details of the accounts cannot be known at this stage as the secrecy clause will be lifted only after Berne was satisfied with the evidence provided by Islamabad.
