Pakistani PM agrees to reopen corruption case against president

PanARMENIAN.Net - Pakistan's Prime Minister told the Supreme Court on Tuesday, Sept 18, that the government would comply with a longstanding demand to reopen an old corruption case against the president, defusing a conflict that has roiled the country's political system and led to the ouster of the last premier, The Associated Press reported.

President Asif Ali Zardari is likely in little immediate danger from the case in Switzerland, where he is recognized as enjoying immunity from prosecution as a foreign head of state. But the decision came as somewhat of a surprise to many in Pakistan, given the government had refused for months to follow the court's order to write a letter to Swiss authorities asking them to reopen the case.

Pakistani Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf said he finally ordered the letter to be written to the Swiss "in the larger interest of the country, in the larger interest of the people of Pakistan and in the larger interest of the integrity of Pakistan."

The case relates to millions of dollars in kickbacks that Zardari and his late wife, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, allegedly received from Swiss companies when she was in power in the 1990s.

Pakistan was originally a civil party to the case because it was trying to reclaim the money. But it notified Swiss authorities in 2008 that it was withdrawing after the Pakistani government issued an ordinance giving Zardari and other politicians immunity from prosecution in old corruption cases.

The Supreme Court declared the ordinance unconstitutional in 2009 and demanded the government write a letter to the Swiss to reopen the case, but it refused, citing the president's immunity from prosecution while in office.

The Swiss have indicated they have no plans to continue with the case, at least while Zardari is in office.

The Pakistani government's supporters have accused the Supreme Court of relentlessly pursuing the case because of bad blood between Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry and Zardari.

The judges convicted former Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani of contempt of court for refusing to follow their orders and ousted him from office in June. The government then rallied support in parliament to elect the current prime minister.

The lead judge hearing the case, Asif Saeed Khosa thanked the Prime Minister Tuesday for giving "us a commitment to make serious, sincere efforts to implement the orders of the court."