ISLAMABAD: An accountability court has decided to indict former president Asif Ali Zardari in the Thatta Water Supply corruption reference via video link.
Judge Azam Khan resumed hearing on one of the corruption references against the PPP leader on Wednesday filed by the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) as part of the fake bank accounts case.
Zardari excused himself from appearing before the court, saying that he could not attend proceedings due to the ongoing coronavirus situation and his ailments.
Judge Azam Khan ordered NAB to assist the court in setting up the video link for proceedings of the case. The court also declared the co-accused Ashfaq Leghari an absconder and separated the case from the reference.
READ MORE: Court to indict Asif Zardari in another reference on August 4
The accountability court adjourned proceedings of the case till 4th August and summoned Zardari and fourteen other suspects at the next hearing.
The Thatta Water Supply is a supplementary reference, part of the fake bank accounts and mega money-laundering scam references filed by the NAB against the PPP leader.
In October 2015, the anti-corruption wing of the Federal Investigation Agency in Karachi received a tip-off of suspicious intra-bank transactions from three banks which did not match their income of account holders.
FIA suspected that these accounts were being run by the Zardari Group and Omni Group, amongst others. In June 2018, the Supreme Court took suo moto notice of the fake accounts and directed a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) to probe the matter.
The investigation team concluded that 32 fake bank accounts were being operated by 11 fake entities to launder money from kickbacks, land grabbing and misappropriation of public funds.
