October 30, 2007	Tuesday	Shawwal 17, 1428

GENEVA, Oct 29: A key prosecutor said on Monday he received the conclusions of a money laundering investigation against former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, but it was unclear whether there would be any further legal action against her in Switzerland.

“The investigating magistrate has sent me the file,” Daniel Zappelli, chief prosecutor of the canton state of Geneva, told The Associated Press.

The prosecutor can now decide whether to file charges, suspend the proceedings or drop the case. Since 2004, the magistrate had been conducting the investigation into allegations that Ms Bhutto had used Swiss banks to launder millions of dollars in kickbacks.

Ms Bhutto returned to Pakistan on Oct 18 after eight years of exile to contest parliamentary elections. Negotiations with President Gen Pervez Musharraf have resulted in an amnesty for Ms Bhutto covering the corruption charges that made her leave Pakistan and could lead to a power-sharing agreement.

The Supreme Court is examining the legality of the amnesty.

Swiss lawyers are closely following the developments in Pakistan and there has been speculation in the Swiss media whether they might wait to see what Pakistan’s highest court decides.

Another Geneva magistrate convicted Ms Bhutto and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, in absentia of money laundering in July 2003 under a Swiss law that empowers high-level investigators to impose penalties without a court hearing.

They received six-month suspended sentences and were ordered to pay $11 million to the Pakistani government, but the conviction was automatically thrown out when the pair contested it.

They were then charged by another Swiss magistrate, Vincent Fournier, in July 2004 and the case was reopened. Ms Bhutto insisted that the corruption cases against her, including the one in Switzerland, were politically motivated and said she believed the Pakistan high court would let the amnesty stand.

Her lawyer in Geneva, Alec Reymond, said on Monday he had not yet received notification that the file had been handed over to Mr Zappelli. But he said the amnesty granted to Ms Bhutto in her home country would play a decisive role in the Swiss proceedings.

If the Supreme Court confirms the amnesty “it will necessarily be of a very high importance,” Mr Reymond told the AP. The alleged money laundering in Switzerland stems from alleged crimes in Pakistan, he added. “If there is no crime, there is no money laundering.”—AP