ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Supreme Court ordered the government on Tuesday to reopen all cases against President Asif Ali Zardari, three ministers, three top bureaucrats and other officials.
A 17-member bench of the top court ruled the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) void. The ordinance, issued by former President Pervez Musharraf, dropped corruption cases against a number of politicians.
Asking the government to reopen the cases against Zardari and others, the court in its 300-page verdict cited cases of various heads of state who were taken to court to answer corruption charges including late Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos. The Philippine government has recovered at least $1.83 billion from the Marcoses until late last year.
The Supreme Court ordered the government to contact Swiss courts in sorting out money-laundering and graft cases against Zardari. It specifically asked the government to account for $600 million in Zardari’s foreign bank accounts. The court ordered Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani to implement its order.
Tuesday’s detailed verdict followed an interim ruling by the same court on Dec. 16 that declared illegal an amnesty that had protected Zardari and his allies from corruption charges, opening the door for corruption cases against them to be reopened.
The amnesty, under the NRO, was granted in October 2007 by Musharraf, who was under international pressure to hold democratic elections in the nuclear-armed nation. The NRO angered ordinary Pakistanis and rights activists who said it protected the wealthy from prosecution for corruption.
The NRO quashed charges against a number of politicians including Zardari and his wife, assassinated former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, Benazir’s mother Nusrat Bhutto, federal ministers Rehman Malik, Ahmad Mukhtar, Nawab Yousaf Talpur, Farooq Sattar and Babar Ghauri. Beneficiaries also include top government officials and three ambassadors. People on the list are connected to 3,478 cases ranging from murder, embezzlement, abuse of power and bank loan waivers.
In a recent petition, the government of Zardari’s Pakistan People’s Party argued that the Supreme Court had no jurisdiction to ask the government to contact Swiss authorities regarding cases pending against Zardari.
The full judgment of the Supreme Court empowers any citizen to file a petition challenging the validity of Zardari’s presidency.
