Court to indict Asif Zardari in another reference on August 4

Author: Web Desk

An accountability court will indict former president Asif Ali Zardari and others in the Thatta Water Supply Scheme reference on 4th August.

During the hearing on Tuesday, the judge directed all accused named in the reference to appear in court on August 4 for indictment.

National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has filed the case against the former president as a supplementary reference in the fake bank accounts and mega-money laundering scam.

Earlier this month the accountability court deferred Zardari’s indictment in Park Lane reference after the former president’s counsel Farooq H Naek requested the court for additional time to prepare for the case.

In an earlier hearing, the court had also deferred Zardari’s indictment in the Park Lane reference after his counsel submitted an application, seeking exemption of his client from appearance due to illness and the COVID-19 situation in the country.

In October 2015, the anti-corruption wing of the Federal Investigation Agency in Karachi received a tip-off of suspicious intra-bank transactions from the Summit Bank, Sindh Bank and the United Bank Limited. The profiles of the account holders did not match their earnings/income. FIA authorities suspected that these accounts were being run by the Zardari Group and Omni Group, amongst others

The case dragged on until June 2018, when the Supreme Court took suo moto notice of the fake accounts and directed a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to probe the matter.