GENEVA, Feb 20: Lawyers representing Pakistan urged a Swiss court on Wednesday to prosecute the widower of slain opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, accused of stashing 60 million Swiss francs ($55 million) in the Alpine country.
“This dossier is a bomb for Zardari,” Pakistan’s Swiss lawyer Dominique Henchoz told the Geneva court. “His name appears on each page as the beneficial owner of offshore companies. Some 60 million Swiss francs have been frozen (in Geneva accounts),” she said.
Ms Bhutto and Mr Zardari have always denied the charges.
The three-judge court in Geneva, presided over by judge Valerie Laemmel-Julliard, announced at the end of the 90-minute hearing that it would rule soon on whether to send the case to the prosecutor for trial, or back to a magistrate for more work.
Jacques Python, the senior lawyer for Pakistan, which is a civil party in the case, said: “The facts which Mr Zardari stands accused of, taking commissions paid into accounts, are duly documented. It is urgent to act. The statute of limitations on some of the charges expires in July 2009.”
Saverio Lembo, Mr Zardari’s lawyer in Geneva, called for the case to be suspended pending the ruling by Pakistan’s Supreme Court, noting that Mr Musharraf’s amnesty covered money-laundering cases pending in Switzerland as well as in Britain.—Reuters
