Fraud face-off: SC vents ire over Zardari

Pak SC has threatened the countrys watchdog over graft cases,including those against Zardari.

Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Wednesday threatened to imprison the chief of the country’s anti-corruption watchdog after the government failed to meet a 24-hour deadline to reopen hundreds of graft cases,including those against President Asif Ali Zardari and his close aides.

Naveed Ahsan,the chief of the National Accountability Bureau,was given another 24 hours by a bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry to implement the apex court’s order or be held in contempt.

Ahsan gave a written undertaking to reopen the cases,including one in which Zardari is alleged to have stashed USD 60 million in Swiss bank accounts in the 1990s.

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Chief Justice Chaudhry warned that Ahsan could be arrested for contempt of court.

“We will make you an example so that in future no one could dare to violate the courts orders,” he observed.

The court also refused to accept replies submitted by top government officials to show-cause notices issued to them in connection with their failure to implement the courts verdict to revive graft cases that were closed under the now defunct National Reconciliation Ordinance.

The NRO,a graft amnesty issued by former military ruler Pervez Musharraf,was struck down by the apex court last year.

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Zardari and his aides were among over 8,000 people who benefited from the NRO.

The bench described the replies submitted by the government officials as “unsatisfactory” and adjourned the hearing till tomorrow.

Among those who were served show cause notices were the Secretary and Joint Secretary of the Establishment Division,Interior Secretary,Chairman and acting Chairman of NAB and chief of the Federal Investigation Agency.

The apex court directed Ahsan to file by tomorrow a complete list of the cases that had been reopened following the striking down of the NRO.

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The court also directed him to give a list of individuals who created hurdles in implementing the court’s verdict.

When the bench asked Ahsan why authorities had not implemented the court’s verdict,he replied he had been on leave since March 9.

The Chief Justice then noted that the court had given its verdict 80 days before March 9.