Hearing of Park Lane reference against Zardari adjourned till Feb 3

ISLAMABAD: The accountability court has adjourned the hearing Park Lane reference against the former president and Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari till February 3, ARY News reported on Thursday.

The accountability court’s judge Azam Khan conducted the hearing of Park Lane reference against Asif Ali Zardari today. During the hearing, the judge asked Zardari’s counsel Farooq H Naek to initiate cross-examination.

The lawyer argued that he was not prepared for cross-examination due to shortage of time. He said that he did not get enough time to prepare for cross-examination due to the burden of other cases. Naek added that he has to appear in the hearing of another case against Zardari in the high court which could take the whole day.

Zardari’s counsel pleaded the court to start cross-examination in the next hearing.

Read: SC issues notice to NAB on Zardari’s plea for transfer of graft cases

Judge Azam Khan remarked that the court had earlier fixed the hearing’s date on the counsel’s choice. He maintained that the lawyer should suggest a date for hearing to commence cross-examination. Naek responded to the judge that the court could give any other date.

Later, the court adjourned the hearing till February 3.

Park Lane case

Asif Ali Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur and other accused face charges of corruption through fake bank accounts and embezzlement in the financial facility for Park Lane Private Limited and Parthenon (Pvt) Limited.

The Park Lane case is being investigated under different sections of the National Accountability Ordinance (NAO) 1999, and the Anti-Money Laundering Act, 2010, over Zardari’s alleged involvement in a loan and its misappropriation by Parthenon Private Limited.

A loan worth Rs 1.5 billion was taken from a bank and transferred to the company’s account in a private bank.