News
Sunday, May 16, 2010
Court re-issues arrest warrants for Swiss directors of CotecnaBy Tahir Rashid
RAWALPINDI: An accountability court once again issued arrest warrants for six foreign directors of the Cotecna trading company and adjourned the proceedings until May 31.
During Saturday’s proceedings, Ishtiaq Haider – the lawyer of former Federal Board of Revenue chairman AR Siddiqui – presented Accountability Court-III Judge Syed Najamul Hassan his client’s leave application, citing health reasons. The court accepted the application and granted Siddiqui leave for a day. However, the court re-issued arrest warrants against six Swiss directors of Cotecna, including John Schlagal Milch, who was allegedly working as the “front man” of President Asif Ali Zardari.
Besides the six Swiss directors, the reference had been filed against Siddiqui, President Zardari, former premier Benazir Bhutto and former Pakistan People’s Party chairwoman Nusrat Bhutto.
According to the reference, when Benazir was prime minister, President Zardari allegedly established an offshore company for money laundering and transferred billions of rupees to Switzerland in the name of Cotecna, earning a profit of $11.8 million in the transactions.
Currently, President Zardari enjoys immunity under Article 248 of the constitution, Benazir died in 2007, the Supreme Court exempted Nusrat Bhutto from personal appearance, and the six Swiss directors of Cotecna are out of country and still at large. The only accused remaining in the case is AR Siddiqui, who was also on a leave on Saturday.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk