ISLAMABAD: The National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on Wednesday filed an application in the Islamabad High Court (IHC) seeking to withdraw its appeals against the acquittal of Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) Co-chairperson and former President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari in four references, which are fixed for hearing tomorrow (Thursday).
In its application, NAB stated that only photocopies of the documents are on record in the references against Asif Ali Zardari, thus further prosecution is not possible. Four separate applications have been submitted by NAB in the IHC to withdraw appeals against the acquittal of Asif Ali Zardari by the accountability court in the SGS, Cotecna, Ursus Tractors, and ARY Gold References.
The applications state that only photocopies of the documents are on record against the former President, and the available documents are not in accordance with the law of evidence. “Further prosecution on the pending appeals is an impossible task; therefore, to meet the requirements of justice, the court should allow NAB to withdraw the appeals against the acquittals of Ali Zardari”, the applications stated.
The accountability court had acquitted Asif Zardari and also approved NAB’s plea to withdraw the appeals against his acquittal simultaneously. In ARY Gold and Ursus Tractors’ references filed in 2000 and 2001, the accountability court had acquitted Mr Zardari on December 12, 2014. The accountability court had also acquitted Mr Zardari in the Cotecna and SGS reference on November 24, 2015.