February 28, 2003	Friday	Zul Hijjah 26, 1423

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ISLAMABAD, Feb 27: The Pakistan People’s Party has debunked the National Accountability Bureau‘s allegations against its chairperson and former premier Benazir Bhutto.

In a statement issued here on Thursday, PPP spokesman Farhatullah Babar said that neither the accounts alleged to have been frozen by the Swiss government belonged to her nor any foreign court had charged Ms Bhutto with corruption or wrongdoing.

The Pakistan government may have been declared a “damaged party” by the Swiss government in the SGS case as was claimed by the NAB chairman, but that did not prove that Ms Bhutto was involved in corruption in the SGS, Cotecna or in any other case, the spokesman said.

He added: “It is typical of the army-run NAB to exploit an administrative decision of the Swiss government for a media trial of Ms Bhutto.

“The assertion by the NAB chairman that a Swiss court had charged Ms Bhutto and her husband Asif Ali Zardari with receiving commissions and kickbacks, and had consequently frozen some $60 million in their accounts is no more than trash which is being regurgitated from time to time by the dictatorial regime for achieving its political objectives.

#SENATE ELECTION:# The People’s Party Parliamentarians condemning the alleged horse trading in the Senate elections said that the way it was done had no precedence in the political history of Pakistan.

Raja Pervez Ashraf, Navid Qamar, Sherry Rehman and Fauzi Habib, while apprising reporters about the outcome of the PPP parliamentary party meeting at the parliament cafeteria, said that the use of state apparatus to buy loyalties was a shameful act.

The government through its alleged indulgence was ridiculing democracy, they said.

They said that the NWFP chief minister, Akram Durrani, had openly said that members loyal to the MMA were being allured by offering financial assistance up to Rs10 million.