Zardari enjoys amnesty only in criminal cases: Ahsan

Karachi, Jan.31 (ANI): Senior Pakistan People's Party (PPP) leader Aitzaz Ahsan has said President Asif Ali Zardari enjoys amnesty only in criminal cases and not in civil matters.

Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a programme here, Ahsan said the final authority to interpret any article of the constitution rests only with the Supreme Court of Pakistan.

Earlier, the Pakistan's National Accountability Bureau (NAB) had said there is no threat to Zardari in view of the Supreme Court's verdict declaring the controversial amnesty law as 'Unconstitutional'.

NAB's spokesperson said that Zardari was safe and secure in his chair, as he was not charged in any case in October 2007, when the National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) was promulgated.

The spokesman said there is no record that establishes the claims made by some lawyers that Zardari was convicted under Section 31-A of the NAO as a proclaimed offender.

Section 31-A of the NAO deals with conviction in absentia, which, according to the latest Supreme Court judgment on the NRO, could not be automatically quashed if the accused stands acquitted in the main case in which he was declared an absconder.

It may be noted that senior advocate A K Dogar had claimed that Zardari was sentenced to three years imprisonment in the much reported BMW case in 2005.

Dogar said the BMW case was filed against Zardari on May 15, 2002, and charges were framed on June 15, 2002. He said Zardari allegedly misappropriated funds of about 14.206 million rupees. (ANI)