Another graft charge against Zardari quashed

Islamabad, Mar 12 : A court has quashed another graft charge against Pakistan People's Party co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari.

A judge in an anti-corruption court on Wednesday terminated a case relating to alleged kickbacks on a government contract with a Swiss firm when Benazir Bhutto was Prime Minister.

Zardari's lawyer Farooq Naek said that the court will give its ruling on Friday on the last charge outstanding in Pakistan against his client.

Earlier, the Rawalpindi Bench of Pakistan's National Accountability Bureau, dropped five of the seven corruption cases against Zardari and his aide Rehman Malik under the provisions of the National Reconciliation Ordinance and released the former's assets.

The NAB court terminated the SGS, ARY Ursus Tractor and Polo Ground references against the PPP leaders.

The court also ordered the release of frozen and confiscated assets, including accounts, sugar mills and some other assets.

The court has also released the impounded cars of former Federal Investigative Agency (FIA) Director Rehman Malik.

Zardari had spent over eight years behind bars in connection with some of these cases.

ANI