Swiss close $60m corruption cases against Zardari

GENEVA – Swiss judicial authorities said yesterday they had closed a money-laundering case against Pakistani presidential candidate…

GENEVA – Swiss judicial authorities said yesterday they had closed a money-laundering case against Pakistani presidential candidate Asif Ali Zardari and had released $60 million (€41 million) frozen in Swiss accounts over the past decade.

Daniel Zappelli, Geneva’s chief prosecutor, said he had no evidence to bring Mr Zardari (55), widower of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and leader of her Pakistan People’s Party, to trial.

Pakistan’s government recently dropped out of all related cases it had initiated in Switzerland, saying the couple could not be accused of corruption, he said.

Mr Zappelli said the full $60 million in assets, seized at the request of the Pakistan authorities, had been released.

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“All the money has been unfrozen. For money-laundering to be proven, you have to show it was the product of a crime,” Mr Zappelli said. “Pakistan has withdrawn its requests for judicial assistance and has said it has no claim on the frozen assets.”

He declined to say exactly who owned the accounts holding the $60 million, citing confidentiality. But $3.55 million in commissions had reverted to the state of Geneva’s coffers after not being claimed, he said.

Mr Zardari’s lawyer Saverio Lembo welcomed Mr Zappelli’s decision to shelve the long-running case: “It confirms what my client has pleaded since 1997.”

In February, Swiss lawyers for Pakistan told a Geneva hearing that Mr Zardari was the beneficial owner of offshore companies at the heart of criminal cases in which Pakistan was a civil party.

Geneva judicial authorities have been investigating allegations since 1997 that Bhutto and Mr Zardari took kickbacks from Swiss cargo inspection companies and channelled $12 million via offshore companies into Swiss accounts.

In addition, Pakistan had asked the Swiss authorities to block further funds, so that a total of $60 million was frozen.

Pakistan did not pursue corruption allegations against Mr Zardari at home after the Pakistan Supreme Court in 2001 annulled a 1999 conviction against the couple. Mr Zardari has spent 11 years altogether in prison on corruption, drug-smuggling and murder charges, which he denies.

Bhutto was assassinated on December 27th last, thrusting her husband into the centre of politics. Mr Zardari is running in a September 6th presidential election to replace Pervez Musharraf.

The couple always denied the charges, calling them politically motivated, but were convicted by a Geneva court in 2003 of laundering kickbacks. That verdict was also thrown out on appeal, sparking a wider inquiry.

Contracts to inspect Pakistan cargo were awarded to two Swiss-based companies in 1994 when Bhutto was prime minister and Mr Zardari investment minister.

Pakistan’s attorney-general had recently written to him saying there had been no irregularities in the contracts, Mr Zappelli said.

In a recent controversy in Pakistan since the resignation of Mr Musharraf, Mr Zardari has been reluctant to reinstate judges sacked by the army-imposed president, partly out of concern that the deposed chief justice might hear challenges to an amnesty granted to him and other party leaders from graft charges last year, analysts say. – (Reuters)