RAWALPINDI, Dec 21: Asif Ali Zardari, the spouse of PPP chairperson Ms Benazir Bhutto, has not been served arrest warrant so far in a new case and now he is set to be released after undergoing a five-year term ofjail.

Farooq H. Naek advocate, counsel of Asif Zardari, told Dawn here on Friday.

He said in all the cases, three cases were fixed for hearing before two accountability courts in Rawalpindi on Friday.

“No court has so far been intimated about the issuance of fresh arrest warrant of Asif Ali Zardari in a new case,” he said.

Earlier, the NAB officials said that Asif Zardari would be arrested in a new case involving the import of a BMW car in the name of a student.

The government, soon after granting him bail in all the pending cases, has framed a new case against Mr Zardari.

Farooq H. Naek said that on Friday hearing in Steel Mills, ARY Gold and SGS references was held. The first two references were adjourned but in the SGS case the prosecution prayed the court to issue a letter of rogatory for obtaining more documents from the Swiss government.

The counsel of Asif Zardari was left with no time to reply to the arguments for the issuance of letter of rogatory.

The case was adjourned till January 7.

Asif Zardari, who is behind the bars since November 1996, was granted bail in the last case on Saturday last.

Mr Zardari could not be released because the process of submission of sureties could not be completed due to Eid holidays.

Asif Zardari is presently lodged in Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) which has been declared sub-jail.

The new case in which Asif Zardari would be arrested pertains to alleged import of a BMW car in the name of a student and allegedly deprived national exchequer of import duty worth about Rs10 million during the second tenure of Benazir government.

Mr Zardari is facing thirteen different cases of criminal and civil nature.

He has been granted bail in twelve cases and in one case the Prosecutor General Accountability stated before the LHC that Asif Zardari was not arrested in polo ground reference and would not be arrested without the prior permission of the court.

Mr Zardari is simply an accused in pre-shipment case 1999, assets case of sending artifacts to England, SGS/Cotecna case, Polo Ground case, Steel Mills case, ARY Gold case and Tractors’ import case.

He is on bail in Mir Murtaza Bhutto murder case, Justice (Retd) Nizam, Alam Baloch and Sajjad Hussain Bukhari cases and a suicide attempt case.