LAHORE, Sept 23: A local accountability court on Friday resumed after five years the hearing of a reference against Begum Nusrat Bhutto made out in 1997 through which she was charged with amassing landed property and keeping bank balance of about US $1.5 billion in certain European countries.

Headed by judge Rana Zahid Mahmood, the court issued orders to the Lahore police chief and the Karachi SSP to submit their reports in 10 days if the police of the two provinces had taken any action in attaching the property of the former PPP chairperson, who has been bed-ridden for some six years in the house of her daughter, Benazir Bhutto, in Dubai.

The court passed instructions to the police as a sequel to its order issued in 2000 according to which the property of Begum Bhutto was to be attached, in addition to a sentence in absentia of two years in prison for failing to appear in court.

She was first declared proclaimed offender and then proceeded against in absentia. The court also issued warrants for her arrest and the police of the two provinces were directed to take her into custody as and when found.

The court also issued fresh warrants for arrest of Begum Bhutto and directed the National Accountability Bureau deputy prosecutor-general to submit a report about her whereabouts.

The reference against Begum Nusrat Bhutto was made by the Ehtesab Cell, headed by Saifur Rehman, during the second government of Nawaz Sharif as prime minister.

She was charged with purchasing property in Spain, France and England and keeping bank accounts in these countries and Switzerland. The total value of the assets and bank deposits was said to be US $1.5 billion.

All the landed property and bank deposits were the pecuniary benefits of the ill-gotten money, the reference charged the Bhutto lady, who is believed to be suffering from acute alzheimer’s.

The reference was first tried by an ehtesab bench of the LHC and, later, transferred to an accountability court towards the end of 1998. Since Begum Bhutto has been abstaining from its proceedings, the court sentenced her in absentia.

Why the case has been re-opened against the ailing Bhutto lady is not known, but the court’s presiding officer himself did not sound hopeful about its outcome. He remarked: “The proceedings may not produce any result because such influential people can come into power tomorrow and throw the court orders like a trash paper.” Therefore, he said, there was no use passing a conviction order. He, however, said no-one should be allowed to run away with the public money.