ISLAMABAD: The accountability court has indicted former president Asif Ali Zardari in the Park Lane reference through a video link.
Islamabad Accountability Court Judge Muhammad Azam Khan heard the Park Lane reference. Asif Zardari appeared in the court from Bilawal House Karachi through video link. Lawyers for Iqbal Noori and Taha Raza filed petitions seeking restraint, which were rejected.
The court questioned the former president as to whether he had committed fraud by taking illegal loans through the front company Parthenon. Zardari replied in court, “I reject all allegations”.
Zardari said that lawyers are in the Supreme Court without whom no indictment can be filed. Judge Azam Khan said that the charge would be brought against him. “If your lawyers do not come, we will make it as absent,” the judge added.
Read more: AC turns downs Zardari’s plea against NAB in Park Lane case
Zardari remarked that you should give a ruling that if there is no law then you should fight your own case. Judge Azam Khan in a conversation with Asif Zardari said that you should not ask me for rolling.
In the Park Lane reference, Asif Ali Zardari is accused of causing a loss of Rs 3.77 billion to the national exchequer through fake bank accounts. Other accused including PPP senators Usman Saifullah, Anwar Saifullah, and Saleem Saifullah are also named in the reference.
The actual value of about 2,500 kanals of land purchased in Islamabad is Rs 2 billion but it was bought for only Rs 62 crore. The Park Lane reference was approved by the NAB chairman in July last year.
The reference filed against the PPP co-chairman and co-accused is 13 pages long. The text of the reference states that Park Lane Company made an anonymous property in Karachi through the front company Parthenon.
With the loan money, eight floors were constructed in IBC Center. Initially, a loan of Rs 1.5 billion was taken which increased to Rs 4 billion. Debt irregularities were committed and the accused conspired to damage the exchequer.
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