GENEVA, Sept 20: Pakistan’s former prime minister, Benazir Bhutto, aims to call up to a dozen witnesses on her behalf, the first time she has done so, in Swiss hearings into charges of money laundering, her lawyer said on Tuesday.
Ms Benazir relaunched her defence in the eight-year-old case on Monday, testifying before an investigating magistrate in Geneva probing charges by the Pakistan government that she and her husband stashed millions of dollars in kickbacks in Switzerland.
The opposition leader-in-exile rejects the charges and says the accusations are politically motivated by her foes at home.
The investigating judge is now open to hearing evidence from witnesses, Alec Reymond, Benazir’s lawyer, told Reuters.
“This is the first time that we have been granted the opportunity to bring witnesses,” Mr Reymond said.
Mr Benazir and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, were convicted of money laundering in 2003 in Geneva under a law allowing a senior investigating judge to hand down a ruling without a full trial.
But the verdict was thrown out automatically upon appeal, sparking the current hearings to decide if the case should proceed.
Mr Reymond said the witnesses, both Swiss and foreign, will be able to present enough evidence to convince investigators to drop the money laundering charges.
“We have probably 10 or 12 (witnesses) covering all of the charges against Ms Benazir and these people will be heard, we hope, in the coming months,” he said.
The case relates to accusations dating back to the 1990s that Benazir and Zardari accepted commissions for awarding contracts to two Swiss companies to do business in Pakistan.
The Swiss investigating magistrate had also summoned Mr Zardari to Monday’s hearing, Mr Reymond said. But Zardari is undergoing medical treatment in the United States and had informed the Swiss judge that he was unable to attend.
Ms Benazir’s government was sacked in 1996 following accusations of corruption and misrule. She lives in self-imposed exile but still leads the People’s Party.
Swiss judicial authorities have blocked some $13 million in bank accounts held by companies in connection with the case.
—Reuters