Zardari indicted in Park Lane, Thatta Water Supply cases

ISLAMABAD: An accountability court on Monday indicted former president Asif Ali Zardari in two more graft references pertaining to Thatta Water Supply Scheme and Park Lane Company connected with fake accounts case.

Judge Azam Khan heard two references moved by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) against Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) co-chairman Zardari and other co-accused. The former president appeared before the court amid foolproof security arrangements at the Judicial Complex Islamabad.

At the outset of the hearing, the court framed charges against the accused and the judge read out the charge-sheet. However, Zardari and other accused denied all charges upon which the court ordered the NAB for producing three witnesses on October 20, and other three on October 21 in Park Lane Company and Thatta Water Supply cases, respectively.

The court has indicted a total of 19 persons in Park Lane reference, while 15 were indicted in Thatta Water Supply reference. The court has already indicted Zardari and his sister Faryal Talpur on September 28 in the mega money laundering reference.

Talking outside the accountability court with reporters, Zardari was asked to comment on Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Khawaja Muhammad Asif’s remarks about him. “Khawaja Asif must have given the statement on somebody’s instructions,” he said, adding the intent was to divide the opposition. Talking about the accountability cases filed against him, the former president said he had previously faced similar circumstances when cases were filed against him. “When we are in opposition, such cases are filed against us,” he said. “We have been going through these cases in the past as well.”

It may be mentioned here that Thatta Water Supply is a supplementary reference, part of the fake bank accounts and mega money-laundering scam references, filed by the NAB against Zardari.

Similarly, a Karachi-based private company, Park Lane Estate Pvt Ltd, had purchased almost 2,500 kanals of land near Sangjani in Islamabad from Faisal Sakhi Butt, who himself purchased the land from a Pakistani American living in Houston, USA, namely Muhammad Nasir Khan, for merely Rs62 million.

Nasir Khan was the original purchaser of this land in 1994 and was alleged by the accountability watchdog in 1997 to be Zardari’s frontman. However, all the legal requirements were met and followed in the purchase and transfer of this land from one man to another and then to Park Lane Estate Pvt Ltd, which was a Karachi-based company.

According to the Form-A Annual Return of the company, its share capital, as reflected in the Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) record then, showed it had 120,000 shares, of which Zardari and Bilawal owned 30,000 shares each. Zardari was shown as a director and his son as a member with four others who appeared as members and debenture holders.

Zardari was alleged to have forcibly acquired the 2,500 kanals of land uprooting 300 families to set up a polo ground and a riding pavilion in Sangjani.