Court rejects Asif Ali Zardari's acquittal in suspicious transactions case

ISLAMABAD: An Islamabad accountability court on Thursday rejected the plea filed by the former president Asif Ali Zardari seeking his acquittal in the Rs8.3 billion suspicious transaction case, ARY News reported.

The verdict on Zardari’s plea was reserved earlier in the day by the court.

The PPP co-chairman had moved the acquittal plea on the basis of the recent amendments made to the country’s accountability law.

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Earlier, Zardari turned up before the court along with his lawyer as it resumed hearing. The counsel stated before the court that his client cannot be indicted in the case after the promulgation of the National Accountability (NAO) Ordinance, 2021.

He had contended that no case is made out against Zardari after the new law, pleading with the judge to acquit him.

After hearing arguments, the judge had reserved the verdict on maintainability of the plea.

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According to the reference, former president Asif Ali Zardari is accused of carrying out transactions worth over Rs8 billion using fake accounts. His aide Mushtaq Ahmed deposited the amount in a fake account, which was later used to purchase pricey properties in a posh locality of Karachi.

Ahmed served as a stenographer at Aiwan-e-Sadar from 2009 till 2013. He has been declared as a fugitive in the case due to his perpetual absence from the proceedings.