Swiss deny receiving request to reopen Zardari case

GENEVA: Pakistan has not asked Swiss authorities to reopen a corruption case against President Asif Ali Zardari, Geneva's public prosecutor said on Wednesday.

In any case, Zardari enjoys immunity from prosecution as a head of state, Prosecutor-General Daniel Zappelli told Reuters.

“I have not received any request,” Zappelli said, commenting on news from Islamabad that Pakistan's anti-corruption agency would ask the Swiss to revive the case.

SC told Rs7.5bn of Rs9bn BoP loan scam recovered

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court was told here on Monday that Rs7.5 billion, out of the Rs9 billion Bank of Punjab (BoP) loan scam, had been recovered from Sheikh Afzal, the chief executive of the Haris Steel Industry, and his accomplices by seizing foreign and domestic assets owned by the accused.
 
A three-judge bench, comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali and Justice Khilji Arif Hussain, which had taken up the petition of the Bank of Punjab against the steel concern also withdrew the protection it earlier had granted to Seth Nisar, one of Sheikh Afzal’s brothers and co-accused in the scam, when it was informed that he was not cooperating with the National Accountability Bureau (NAB). The court ordered the bureau and other investigating agencies to proceed against him according to the law.

Selling pressure mounts at KSE in NRO aftermath

KARACHI: Selling pressure eroded values of leading scrips on Friday at the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) as the 100-Index slipped further by 43.45 points to close at 9,183.73.

Nadeem Chawla, a dealer at a leading brokerage house, said that the market was bullish in the morning for a short while but plunged on lack of support.

Monitoring cells for NRO cases

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry on Friday named Justice Ghulam Rabbani of the Supreme Court as head of the monitoring cell created to monitor the progress in corruption cases under the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) Ordinance.

President Zardari under pressure after NRO ruling

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari faced fresh calls to step down Thursday after the Supreme Court struck down an amnesty that had protected the increasingly unpopular leader and several of his political allies from corruption charges.
 
The decision late Wednesday sharpened political tensions in Pakistan just as the United States and its other Western allies want it to unite and fight against al-Qaeda and Taliban militants based along the Afghan border

Post-NRO frenzy

In the immediate aftermath of the Supreme Court’s judgment on the NRO, the ever-churning political waters in the country have been stirred to a frenzy. Uncertainty, if not panic, is detectable in the ranks of the PPP brain trust as the judicial wheels have swiftly started turning with unknown consequences. Meanwhile, sections of the media have gone into overdrive against ‘tainted’ and ‘immoral’ NRO beneficiaries, regardless of whether the cases had resulted in convictions or not. 
 

Business community delighted over SC verdict

KARACHI: Business community appears to be delighted over the decision of Supreme Court on NRO as they expect it would send a positive signal to foreign investors who have, so far, been skeptic about rule of the law in the country.

The response of leaders of the private sector over the landmark decision was positive who found it to be just and fair.