Bhutto's PPP rejects new corruption charges

Islamabad, April 7 (UNI) Rejecting allegations of the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) linking former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto with corruption through the oil for food programme in Iraq, her Pakistan Peoples Party has said that NAB during the last decade has been desperate to link Ms Bhutto with corruption but it failed miserably.

In a reaction to press statement by the NAB, established by President Pervez Musharraf in 1999 to what his critics believe victimsing his opponents, PPP Spokesman Farhatullah Babar said here today the latest smear campaign aimed at character assassination should be seen in the backdrop of a series of judicial victories for former prime minister Benazir Bhutto and her spouse Asif Ali Zardari.

''The NAB lost a number of concocted cases of corruption against Bhuttos including the SGS COTECNA case, the Steel Mills case, the KESC case, the PIA case, the Isle of Man case and has not been able to produce any evidence in the Geneva investigations,'' he said.

Babar said owning companies or doing business in foreign countries is legitimate, as long as the money involved is not derived from corrupt practices.

''Companies associated with Benazir Bhutto have nothing to do either with the government or abuse of office.'' ''To say that Benazir Bhutto owns a company in Dubai or a company in Spain as if it was illegal to set up companies is an attempt by the NAB to confuse people and obfuscate the issue. Every person can lawfully own assets abroad as long as these have not been acquired through illegitimate means,'' the PPP spokesman said.

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