Court to indict Asif Ali Zardari, Talpur in Park Lane reference on Jan 22

ISLAMABAD: An accountability court on Tuesday decided to indict former president Asif Ali Zardari, his sister Faryal Talpur and other accused named in Park Lane reference on January 22, ARY News reported. 

Accountability judge, Azam Khan heard the fake bank accounts and Park Lane reference cases. Pakistan People’s Party leader Faryal Talpur and other accused named in the reference appeared before the court, however her brother, Asif Ali Zardari skipped today’s hearing owing to his health issues.

Farooq H Naek on behalf of his client [Asif Ali Zardari], submitted plea seeking exemption from court appearance.

The Investigation Officer (IO) of the case informed the court that the NAB has strike down 5 names of the suspects from list and added nine new names in the supplementary reference.

The court directed the former president Asif Ali Zardari, Faryal Talpur, Hussain Lawai, Anwar Majeed, Nimar Majeed and other accused named in Park Lane reference to ensure their appearance before the court on January 22 for indictment.

Later, the hearing was adjourned till 22nd of this month.

Read more: Accountability court approves 10 days physical remand of Ijaz Haroon

Supplementary reference

The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had filed supplementary reference in the fake accounts case against 14 accused including former president Asif Ali Zardari his sister Faryal Talpur.

The anti-corruption watchdog alleged that private bank’s funds were wrongly used and the land was purchased under the name of a benamidar, A-One International.

According to the reference, Rs8.3 billion were withdrawn from the fake accounts and Rs1.2bn were taken out illegally from a private bank’s account. It also says that Rs950 million were then transferred back to Zardari’s account for his use.

The reference also alleges that Anwar Majeed, Abdul Ghani and Mustafa Zulqarnain played a crucial role in the case.