LAHORE, Feb 28: Ms Benazir Bhutto’s special envoy on international affairs on Friday claimed that the former prime minister or her husband maintained no account in any Swiss bank and all government allegations in this regard were baseless.

Talking to reporters here, Matloob A. Warraich said the party would file a damages suit against the government for casting aspersion on the PPP chairperson and her spouse.

He said Ms Bhutto herself was not speaking on the subject because, compared to her stature, it was a frivolous issue.

Mr Warraich produced a letter written in June, 2000, by the attorney-general of Switzerland to establish that no case of money laundering or money deposit was pending anywhere in the country.

He said the ‘disclosures’ made by the NAB chairman had been repeated many a time during the past five years. The government should come up with proof that Ms Bhutto or her spouse had any account in any Swiss bank or that the couple had direct or indirect link with any offshore company.

PPP’s senators-elect Latif Khosa, Sajjad Bukhari, Khwaja Akbar and spokesman Munawwar Anjum at a separate news conference denied the charges against Ms Bhutto.

Mr Khosa said the matter was sub-judice and thus the court should take suo motu notice of the utterances of the NAB chairman. The PPP, he said, would not move the court on its own as the lawyers community had decided as a matter of principle that they would not raise any such issue with the judiciary.

He said no Swiss court had issued any notice to Ms Bhutto or Mr Zardari which amply established that they did not think the couple were accused.

Mr Khosa said Ms Bhutto had already declared that she had nothing to do with any account in any Swiss bank.

Mr Anjum demanded that the chief justice of Pakistan should head the NAB instead of a serving general.

Mr Bukhari alleged that the NAB chief’s utterances were politically motivated.