News

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

Swiss money laundering case buried once and for all

By Hasnaat Malik

ISLAMABAD: The Swiss government has in a letter to the government of Pakistan refused to reopen graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari.
The Law Ministry, which received the Swiss government’s response to the letter written to it by the government of Pakistan following the apex court’s order in the NRO case, opened the sealed envelope on Tuesday. The ministry, in an official statement issued on Wednesday night, said that Pakistan’s ambassador to Switzerland sent a fax on June 18, 2013 to the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs secretary forwarding the letter dated June 13, 2013 along with enclosures received from Nicolas Jeandin of the law firm Fontanetassocies Geneva, conveying decisions of the attorney general of Geneva (with English translation) relating to the SGS/Cotechna money laundering case.
The decision of the attorney general, Geneva, is dated February 4, 2013. After describing the facts relating to the case, it states that the Public Ministry of Geneva has decided not to review the closure order dated August 25, 2008 on the grounds that the statutory limitation period of fifteen years has expired; no new evidence or facts have been revealed; and the Republic of Pakistan procedures constitute an “abuse of power” inasmuch as it is “demanding resumption of the criminal procedure P/11105/1997while maintaining that such resumption could not take place.”
Annex attached to the decision states that an appeal could be filed before the Criminal Appeal Court within ten days. According to the Law Ministry’s statement, relevant files relating directly to the subject are presently not traceable in the Law and Justice Division, ambassador in Switzerland was requested to send Law Ministry by fax copies of all correspondence available with him.
After receiving this letter, the Law Ministry requested ambassador in Switzerland to immediately obtain from Dr Nicolas Jeandin the letter dated December 11, 2012 addressed by him to the Public Ministry Geneva (mentioned in the decision dated February 4, 2013) whereby he has “specified that the step taken by government of Pakistan on injunction of the Supreme Court was essentially a political one” and “in the eyes of the Republic of Pakistan the criminal procedure P/1105/1997 had been definitively closed and could not be reopened, both because the facts to which it referred were subject to the statute of the limitation and because no new fact could justify a review of the closure order of 25th August 2008”.
The Ambassador has also been asked to obtain copies of all correspondence addressed by Nicolas Jeandin with the government of Pakistan, including correspondence referred to in his letter dated June 13, 2013.
Giving details of all correspondence the Law Ministry says that the ambassador of Pakistan was sent letter dated November 5, 2012 from Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs (L,J&PA) secretary addressed to the attorney general Geneva alongwith Para-178 of the judgement of the Supreme Court of Pakistan in Dr Mubasshar Hassan’s case (PLD 2010 SC 265) with the direction that this should be delivered to the attorney general either directly or through his representative, and receipt obtained for submission to the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk

 

 

Back to Top