ISLAMABAD: Law Minister Farooq H. Naek said on Tuesday the Swiss authorities had so far not responded to the letter sent to them by the government about reopening of the graft case against President Asif Ali Zardari on the order of the Supreme Court.

Talking to Dawn, Mr Naek said that no case existed against Mr Zardari in Switzerland at all and the SGS case was only at the investigation stage.

After completion of investigation by a judge, he said, the Swiss attorney general had announced in Aug 2008 that no money laundering case was there and if anyone had objection to his ruling, he could file an appeal within 10 days.

He said the Swiss attorney general had also mentioned the letter that had been sent by the former attorney general Malik Abdul Qayyum seeking closure of the investigation after promulgation of the National Reconciliation Ordinance. The ordinance was later declared null and void by the Supreme Court.

He said the National Accountability Bureau had also cleared Mr Zardari in the two corruption cases he was facing in the country, because there was no evidence against him.

He said that no cases could be reopened against the president now.

A bill to bar a dual nationality holder from becoming a judge was under consideration of the government, the law minister revealed.

The government had sent the letter to the Swiss authorities last month in the light of the Supreme Court’s verdict in the NRO implementation case.

Former prime minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani had to face disqualification for committing contempt of court by not writing the letter to Swiss authorities. The two-year standoff between the government and the judiciary was resolved when Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf appeared before the court and informed it that the government was ready to write the letter.