ISLAMABAD – The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) listed down thereasons behind its opposition to the interim bail granted to formerpresident Asif Ali Zardari by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) in the fakeaccounts case.
The anti-graft body, stated in its report presented to the court, that theformer president ‘may tamper records’ if not taken into custody, accusingPakistan peoples Part co-chairman of not cooperating with the investigationteam.
According to the accountability watchdog, Zardari fraudulently obtainedRs1.5 billion in loans for his Park Lane company through other firms.
The bureau has alleged that Zardari, in connivance with former primeminister Syed Yousaf Raza Gillani, illegally obtained three luxurybullet-proof cars, two BMWs and one Toyota Lexus from the state giftrepository, gifted by the governments of UAE and Libya.
NAB further informed the court that Zardari paid Rs37.16 million asduty/tax on the said vehicles through cheques issued from the fake accountsin question.
“NAB has collected documentary evidence in accordance with the law,” itadded.
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“However, it is the petitioner that is not cooperating with NAB. Moreover,the petitioner remained at influential positions. Therefore, tampering ofevidence on his part cannot be ruled out,” the bureau cautioned.
The fake accounts case pertains to the use of fictitious accounts tolaunder money. Initially the amount laundered was found out to be around Rs35 billion, however, the Federal Investigation Agency had revealed in itsreport that an amount around Rs 100b was involved in the case.
The Federal Investigation Agency had named Zardari, Talpur, Omni Groupchairman Anwar Majeed, his sons and over 10 others as suspects in aninterim charge sheet filed in the banking court in August last year.
