Accountability court voids Toshakhana reference against Zardari, Nawaz and Gilani

The dividends of an amendment to the country’s accountability laws continued to bear fruit for the ruling rainbow coalition after an accountability court voided the Toshakhana references against former president Asif Ali Zardari and former prime ministers Nawaz Sharif and Yousaf Raza Gilani on Wednesday.

in the suspicious transactions case against Zardari, the court directed the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) to submit cogent arguments.

This was directed on Wednesday by an accountability court Judge Muhammad Bashir.

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While hearing the applications, he noted that under the amended accountability laws corruption charges worth less than Rs500 million cannot be heard by the specialized accountability court.

The accusation against Zardari, Nawaz and Gilani was for only Rs110 million.

Therefore, the judge directed that the Toshakhana reference should be sent to the relevant authorities for prosecution.

In the references, the leaders of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) were accused of retaining vehicles from Toshakhana and of paying Rs110 million from benami accounts.

Suspicious transaction

Meanwhile, Judge Bashir said that a verdict in the Rs8 billion suspicious transaction case against Asif Ali Zardari could be announced once the arguments are complete.

It is pertinent to note here that payments for the former president’s Clifton house were allegedly made with suspicious accounts.

The reference was returned after NAB’s jurisdiction over tax matters was restricted.

A case was filed last year when the joint account of Stenographer Mushtaq and Zain Malik came to light.