• An accountability court returned the Park Lane reference
• Zardari had challenged the jurisdiction of the court
• The court returned the reference to NAB

ISLAMABAD: An accountability court on Wednesday returned the Park Lane reference against former president Asif Ali Zardari to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB).

The court had reserved its judgment regarding its jurisdiction in Park Lane reference against former president Asif Ali Zardari under NAB amendment act 2022.

AC-II Judge Nasir Javed reserved the decision after listening arguments from both sides at length. Asif Zardari’s lawyer Farooq H. Naek appeared before the court and argued that the Park Lane reference didn’t fall in jurisdiction of this court after the amendments in the NAB law.

The court said that there were observations of the high court in Adam Amin Chaudhry case that the reference couldn’t be returned.

The lawyer said that the decision of the high court couldn’t be applied to this reference as it was related to a case of amnesty scheme and tax.

The NAB prosecutor Usman Masood opposed the acquittal plea of former president and said that National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) and Summit Bank had a joint venture.

The Park Lane company had received a loan worth Rs1.5 billion which was later increased to 2.8 billion. He prayed the court to decide the jurisdiction of the reference.

The court reserved the verdict after the two sides completed their arguments. It ultimately returned the reference case back to the ant-corruption watchdog.

Zardari had challenged the jurisdiction of the accountability court under the amended NAB law. This is the third case in which the PPP leader has received relief after the amendments in NAB law.

The accountability courts have earlier returned the Thatta water supply reference Zardari to the NAB after it ruled the case didn’t fall under its jurisdiction.

In December last year, the Toshakhana reference against Asif Zardari, former prime ministers Nawaz Sharif and Yousuf Raza Gilani was also returned to the NAB over jurisdiction.

After amendments in the NAB Ordinance, the bureau could not register a case of an amount less than Rs 500 million. According to NAB, the Toshakhana reference was worth Rs 120 million.

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