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Swiss jewellery doesn’t belong to Benazir or her legal heirs: PPP
* Party rejects reports that a Swiss tribunal has held that jewellery set seized in connection with investigations into SGS case belonged to PPP late chairperson or Zardari

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) on Monday rejected media reports that a jewellery set that was seized in connection with investigations into the Society General Surveillance (SGS) case belonged to the legal heirs of Benazir Bhutto or former president Asif Ali Zardari.

“The piece of jewellery never belonged to Benazir Bhutto. There is therefore no question that it belongs to her legal heirs or to Asif Zardari. Let there be no doubt or mistake about it,” Senator Farhatullah Babar, who served as the spokesperson for Benazir Bhutto as well as Asif Ali Zardari, said. “Any assertion that the jewellery belonged to the legal heirs of Benazir Bhutto is based on totally wrong and incorrect assumption that it actually belonged to her,” he added. He said that although he had not yet seen the so-called latest ruing of the Swiss tribunal but on the basis on his association with the case from its inception to the end he could make this assertion confidently.

Senator Babar recalled that on September 19, 2005 Benazir Bhutto had personally appeared before the Swiss Investigation Magistrate in Geneva and categorically denied purchasing the jewellery or owning the Swiss companies. “After appearing before the Swiss magistrate and recording her statement Benazir Bhutto also addressed a press conference in Geneva denying ownership of the jewellery or Swiss companies involved in money laundering,” he said. “This can be verified from the record of the proceedings before the Swiss magistrate and the newspapers’ archives of the time,” he added.

He said that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) at that time had claimed that a piece of jewellery had been seized from Benazir Bhutto’s safe in Geneva but later it was proved before the magistrate that Benazir did not have a safe in Geneva and that the jewellery was taken from the Jeweller in Geneva.

 

Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk

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