ISLAMABAD, May 20: An accountability court on Tuesday fixed May 27 as the date for the announcement of its decision on an application of jailed PPP leader Asif Zardari, questioning the court’s jurisdiction to try him in the SGS reference on the principle of double jeopardy.

Mr Zardari had filed an application under Article 13 of the Constitution before the accountability court, stating that he could not be prosecuted twice on the same grounds under which he had already completed substantial sentence.

The application stated that Mr Zardari was arrested in May 1998 under the SGS case, and the Ehtesab Bench of the Lahore High Court, Rawalpindi Bench, had convicted him on April 15, 1999.

An appeal was then filed before the Supreme Court which had set aside the conviction on April 6, 2001.

Senator Farooq Naek, the counsel of Asif Zardari, told the court that the Ehtesab court had sentenced his client to a five- year imprisonment with a $8.1 million fine. He argued that his client had already completed his sentence in December 2001 by earning remissions and spending two years in jail.

The counsel recalled that the superintendent of Karachi Central Jail had also written a letter to the then inspector general prison, Sindh, seeking his direction for the release of Mr Zardari. He had stated that the accused had also completed his substantial sentence in December 2001. As far as the fine was concerned, Mr Zardari had not paid it.

Farooq Naek cited Rule 48 of the Pakistan Prison Rules to establish that prisoners were bound to be released on the expiry of their substantial conviction if the fine was not paid, provided the order of the court did not mention any imprisonment in lieu of fine.

In the instant case, the counsel said the court did not order any imprisonment in lieu of fine. Even otherwise, under section 65 of the Pakistan Penal Code, the court could not award sentence in lieu of non payment of fine more than one third of the substantive sentence.

He said Mr Zardari had already served the sentence of more than five years, besides sentence, if any, in lieu of fine, therefore, he was entitled to be released in the SGS case, he argued.

Meanwhile, prosecutor Sheikh Azmat argued that since there was no conviction against Mr Zardari pursuant to the order of the Supreme Court, therefore he was liable to be prosecuted.

After hearing the arguments of both sides, accountability court judge Mansoor Ali Khan reserved his judgment for Tuesday next.

Mr Zardari was facing the charges of awarding pre-shipment inspection contract to the SGS in consideration of six per cent commission of total amount received by the company from the government of Pakistan. The commission was paid to an offshore company, Bomer Finance Inc. allegedly owned by Mr Zardari, while Jens Schlegelmilch acted as his fiduciary agent. The ultimate beneficiaries of these commissions were Asif Zardari and Benazir Bhutto, the reference said.