ISLAMABAD:
In a major development, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday dismissed National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) appeals against Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari’s acquittal.
A two-member bench headed by IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah heard NAB appeals against the acquittal of the former president in 25-year-old references.
Additional Prosecutor General NAB Jahanzeb Khan Bharwana appeared in the court on behalf of NAB and requested the court to formally withdraw the appeals.
During the hearing, Justice Minallah told the prosecutor that “according to merit, you didn’t have the case”.
Read: NAB to review old cases against Zardari under amended law
“Did NAB make any inquiry as to where the case records went? Your appeals had to be dismissed on merit as well,” he stated.
Justice Ejaz Ishaq Khan also questioned Bharwana and said, “Do you know where the record went?”
On this, Justice Minallah stated, “No, he knows. In the last hearing, you said that the record was lost on your return from the Lahore High Court [LHC]. We are also dismissing your appeals on merit.”
Later, the court dismissed the appeals against Zardari on merit despite accepting NAB’s request to withdraw the appeals.
Also read: NAB tells IHC record went missing in Zardari’s cases
Earlier, the NAB had approached the IHC to withdraw its four appeals against the former president’s acquittal in 25-year-old references.
The accountability watchdog filed four separate petitions in the high court to withdraw its appeals in the Ursus Tractors, ARY Gold, SGS Cotecna, and Polo Ground references.
In its application, the anti-graft body adopted the stance that only photocopies of documents in references against Zardari were on record, noting that further prosecution would be a futile exercise.
It was said that the available documentary evidence was not in accordance with the law, therefore, to fulfil the requirements of justice, appeals against the acquittal of the PPP co-chairman in NAB references should be allowed to be withdrawn.
