Charges may be dropped if Gilani complies with court

ISLAMABAD: In a dramatic turn of events, Pakistan’s top court promised Thursday to drop contempt charges against Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani if he obeys an order asking Switzerland to reopen corruption cases against President Asif Ali Zardari.

The Supreme Court has summoned the embattled Gilani to appear next Monday to face indictment over the government’s two-year refusal to ask Swiss authorities to reopen graft cases against Zardari.

On Thursday, the court heard an appeal from Gilani, but only hardened its stand against the weak government that could see Gilani convicted for contempt of court, face disqualification from office and six months in jail.

After more than six hours in court, Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry adjourned the appeal, telling the prime minister’s lawyer to conclude his arguments by 10:30 a.m. (0530 GMT) on Friday.

But the eight-judge bench insisted that the government obey its order issued in 2009 to re-open corruption cases and write to authorities in Switzerland.

Zardari and his late wife, Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, were suspected of using Swiss bank accounts to launder about $12 million in alleged bribes paid by companies seeking customs inspection contracts in Pakistan in the 1990s.

“The prime minister should write the letter — we will pass the order,” Chaudhry told the court earlier in reference to the court dropping its summons order for Gilani to face indictment for contempt on Monday.

In Pakistan the courts overturned in December 2009 a two-year political amnesty that had frozen the allegations against Zardari and other politicians.

But Gilani’s lawyer Aitzaz Ahsan said the Swiss authorities had also closed the cases and that there was no third party to claim the funds.

Chaudhry said the court was running out of patience.

“You have to implement the judgment in any case,” the judge said, addressing himself to Ahsan.

“You have to persuade the chief executive that this is court judgment and you have to implement it,” Chaudhry insisted.

Yasin Azad, president of Supreme Court bar, said there is little hope for Gilani to avoid conviction. “Until now both parties seem inflexible but if Gilani is convicted the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) would be in a position to encash it politically and exploit the issue in its election campaign.”

Former Information Minister Mohammad Ali Durrani sees the situation differently. He said since the government is not yet ready for the next elections, it wants to remain in the power until the last moment. “Their options are very limited and there is a possibility that they will reconsider their decision of not writing the letter to Swiss courts especially after the failure of the ploy of making Aitzaz the premier’s counsel.”

In his opinion, the writ of the government has weakened because of the cases against it — especially the contempt case — in the Supreme Court. Senior sources close to Zardari say the possibility of dismissing the government is not in the cards.

Higher government sources, on the condition of anonymity, revealed to Arab News that the government is seriously thinking of writing the letter for face-saving. And at the same time, the government has asked Aitzaz to use delay tactics for few more weeks while avoiding confrontation with the court so that Senate elections are held amicably.

There is a bleak possibility of conclusion of these cases soon as the legal fraternity believes that on the basis of Aitzaz’s argument that he was not properly heard by the previous 7-member bench before the order was passed, he could easily achieve the target.

In the meantime, the government would be in a position to finalize the deal with the opposition on the issue of introducing a new provision of a caretaker setup in the Constitution through the 20th Amendment Bill.

After the suspension of 28 parliamentarians by the court, the PPP is seriously persuading the opposition to cut a deal on the bill so that it is passed by them.

Everything is leading to early elections and all political forces are reformulating their strategies to get better results.